|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Essay nets 50 Benjamin Franklins
By JIM HARRINGTON
Article published on Thursday, April 20, 2006
 |
![[Image]](/content_images/042006_cit-01.jpg) |
| Photo by MICHELLE L. TORIGIAN |
| Accepting a computer and a $5,000 savings bond are, from left, student Shauniece Sims, teacher Peggy Bodine and Clearwater Intermediate School principal Freddie Robinson. Shauniece won the award for a contest called “What would you do with 50 Benjamins?” |
|
|
CLEARWATER – Move over Ben Bernanke. There’s a new bank head in charge.
Maybe Shauniece Sims isn’t exactly ready to tackle economic strategy and Keynesian policies, but she has one over most other seventh graders.
Shauniece, who goes to Clearwater Intermediate School, won a $5,000 savings bond in a contest called “What would you do with 50 Benjamins?” The image of Benjamin Franklin is on a $100 bill.
To win the contest, which also presented her school with a new computer, she wrote a future budget proposal. Shauniece had already participated in the Junior Achievement’s program “It’s All About the Benjamins,” which teaches youths how to prudently manage, save and spend their money.
The Allstate Foundation, Junior Achievement and the St. Petersburg Times Newspapers in Education Program sponsored the award.
Her teacher, Peggy Bodine, was thrilled for her when she heard the news.
“She has lots of friends and always has a smile on her face,” said Bodine, who got a nod from Shauniece in her essay.
“She is nice and I like her because I need help in reading and she can help me. I really like working with her. I’m really happy that they put me in her class,” wrote Shauniece.
Clearwater Intermediate encourages students, who have had attendance problems in the past, but aren’t a disciplinary problem.
The school on Palmetto Street has an 18-to-1 student teacher ratio, giving children more attention in this critical stage of their development, said Bodine.
According to a national child health expert at the University of Minnesota, the atmosphere in the classroom is vital to keeping the children in school.
“It doesn’t matter whether the teacher has a graduate degree. What matters is the environment that a student enters when he walks through the classroom door,” said Dr. Robert Blum, according to a federal Department of Education online course titled “Truancy: A serious problem for students, schools and society.”
In the JA’s budget course, the 12-year-old Largo resident learned the economic benefits of an education that will affect her future.
According to the Junior Achievement’s Web site, the JA Economics for Success program teaches personal finance and career options that fit students’ skills and interests.
She learned about credit cards and such basic terms as gross income, interest, net income and needs and wants.
It also taught Shauniece critical thinking and decision-making skills that the program hopes she’ll learn for her academic career.
Her teacher, Bodine, credits fellow educator Heather Rudolph whose work has been valuable to the children’s success. Rudolph told the students about the contest and submitted their essays to the competition.
“I am honored that my students think so highly of me,” said Bodine, who accepted the award with her student and Freddie Robinson, the school’s principal.
|
Article published on Thursday, April 20, 2006
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
