Stephen Verdon Named Financial Educator of the Year by Iowa Jump$tart Coalition
From Left: Stephen Verdon and Holly Bernal
West Des Moines, Iowa—Stephen Verdon, Business Education teacher at Davenport West High School, Davenport, has been named 2007 Financial Educator of the Year by Iowa Jump$tart Coalition. The award is presented annually at Jump$tart’s personal finance conference held July 19-20.
Verdon was awarded for his dedication to educating Iowa’s youth on personal financial literacy. “Financial education does not center on making the most money, but paying yourself first and keeping the most money for you,” he said.
On the first day of school last year, Verdon asked his students who wanted a pizza party. Nearly every hand was raised, and Verdon explained that if all the students could save enough money throughout the semester, they could have a pizza party at the end. Each student was asked to save 10 cents per day for 45 days for a total of $4.50. Verdon, who acted as the credit union, would pay the students 5 percent rate of return every Friday for nine Fridays. A student was also asked to be the record keeper for the class, and received a wage of a dime per week paid by Verdon. The student shared the record with the class every Monday so they could see their progress.
The savings earned interest and by the end of the 45 days, the students had earned enough interest to pay for their 25 cent soda and their deposits were returned to them. Verdon deposited $1 per day to his account and the interest paid for his pop and the deposits paid for the classes’ pizza. The students enjoyed a pizza party at the end of the course and learned a valuable lesson in personal finance.
“It is my goal to make my students financially literate so they can manage their own money and make smart financial decisions during their lifetime,” he said.
In addition, Verdon teaches several other courses that focus on home buying, car purchasing and credit awareness. In particular, Verdon teaches the Academy Business and Senior Seminar classes, where students stay together as a group for their four years of high school. As freshman, the teachers instruct them and by the time they become seniors, they are teaching grade school students at the Junior Achievement Exchange City.
“[Verdon] shows his students that money is a fact of life, and calculating retirement goals starts on the first day of their career,” said Bob Tollefson, Associate Principal, Davenport West High School. “His students don’t just create money; they also give back to the community. Over the past two years, Verdon and his students have donated 13,000 hours of service learning to the Quad City area.”
The educator’s award is underwritten by the Iowa Credit Union Foundation and was presented at the Jump$tart conference by Holly Bernal, Vice Chair of the Foundation and Chief Operations Officer of the Midland Credit Union in Urbandale. The conference featured lectures, hands-on activities, and trends in financial management. Educators received classroom materials and teaching strategies for credit cards, consumer debt, insurance, identity theft, saving, investing, and more.
The Iowa Jump$tart Coalition, established in 2000, is a public-private partnership of organizations, supported of volunteers, and dedicated to improving the financial literacy of Iowa youth. More information can be found at http://www.iajumpstart.org.