More than 200 Englewood Elementary students can now bank on great financial futures thanks to the money-saving tips they learned in the “JA in a Day” financial literacy program.
With the help of former Jacksonville Jaguars player Aaron Beasley, Jaxson de Ville, and dozens of volunteers, students learned not only about how to save and invest money, but also about entrepreneurship and workforce readiness skills.
“I think they’re helping us a lot and doing a good job teaching us about money and how we should save our money so our parents don’t have to buy everything for us, and we can buy our own things,” said fifth grader Shamariah Brock.
The event is a partnership between Junior Achievement of North Florida and Everbank. It is funded through the “Touchdowns for Tomorrow” program in which the Jacksonville Jaguars donate $500 for every touchdown scored this past season (which was 41).
Principal Hope Teper says these are valuable lessons that many of the students do not get a chance to learn at home.
“A lot of the families that we have, financial freedom is something that they don’t have, and they struggle financially,” said Teper. “So having Junior Achievement come in and teach them how to manage money really sets students up to start thinking about that now so that it can affect their future.”
So far, JA says more than 600 students have been served and more than 60 volunteers have dedicated their time to teaching students during the program.
“We get to serve more, we get to go inside and pour into kids and it’s an opportunity to purchase more materials and bring these volunteers in to see the money at work,” said Tiffany Guthrie, JA Vice President of Programs and Partnerships. “That’s the cool part. You’re giving us volunteers to see the work in action of getting these students ready for life.”
Englewood is the third school this year to host the program. The fourth and final visit will be May 29 at Long Branch Elementary.