KOLOA — Financial literacy is a building block of the future. On the heels of National Teach Children to Save Day on Wednesday, a team of Bank of Hawai‘i volunteers took to the classrooms at Kapa‘a High School and Koloa
KOLOA — Financial literacy is a building block of the future. On the heels of National Teach Children to Save Day on Wednesday, a team of Bank of Hawai‘i volunteers took to the classrooms at Kapa‘a High School and Koloa Elementary School.
Trevor Durham, Debra Orsatelli, Christine Kashiwagi and Collette Correa spent two days working with students through interactive lessons for developing life-long saving habits.
“My brother has $200,” piped one Koloa School second-grade student when queried about how much money had accumulated in the clear container.
“What is he going to use the money for?” Orsatelli was quick to point out the importance of saving for a future purchase.
She led the second grade students through a lesson on how to count and identify coins.
Teach Childen to Save is a national campaign that encourages financial literacy for children through age-appropriate lessons, including “Dollars and Cents Sense,” “Saving for a Sunny Day,” “Easy Come, Easy Go” and others.
The Kaua‘i BOH team is part of more than 175 BOH volunteers who spanned the schools throughout the state to teach financial literacy lessons to more than 4,000 students from 31 elementary, middle and high schools. The canvassing was done throughout the month of April in commemoration of Teach Children to Save at 15 schools on O‘ahu and 16 schools on the Neighbor Islands, including Kapa‘a High and Koloa School.
The Teach Children to Save program has partnered banks with students for lessons on the importance of saving for 16 years, states the Teach Children to Save website.
The website points out tips on how to become a young saver, provides a newsletter for youngsters and a money manual for parents, along with a unique video contest designed to encourage young people to use the power of video to communicate the value and understanding of saving.
Visit www.teachchildrentosave.com for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
