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ELKINS -- Adrianna Channell, vice president of marketing for Davis Trust Company, spoke with Rotary Club of Elkins about the bank's financial literacy program.
Channell has been with Davis Trust since 2017 and took the reins of the financial literacy program this past fall.
The Banzai Financial Literacy program engages students by using real-life scenarios and just the right amount of humor. Over 80,000 educators make use of this program in their classrooms to provide unique financial education in an online environment.
Last year, Banzai had a request from a local school that wanted to use the program and a bank was needed to sponsor it.
Channell logged in to the program and explored the online games.
"I went to the [DTC] executive management said, 'hey this is really great' and they jumped on board as well," said Channell.
Currently, Randolph County Schools supports the program in Elkins High School, Tygart Valley Middle/High School, Elkins Middle School, Beverly Elementary School, George Ward Elementary School and Midland Elementary School. Highland Adventist School also participates in the program. There are 12 teachers and 148 students participating in the program this year.
"One of my favorite stories comes from Elkins High School. A teacher reached out and let me know that she teaches special needs students and she thought they need help from the bottom up. We arranged to get her the workbooks starting at the elementary level through middle, through high school and she's going to work with these students who are possibly at risk in the future of being taken advantage of or just not understanding fully how something works," commented Channell.
Students are tested to assess their financial literacy prior to completing the course and at the end of the course. The average pre-participation score was 48% with a post-participation score of 92%.
The Banzai standards for financial literacy align closely with the West Virginia Department of Education standards for financial literacy. West Virginia requires a number of outcomes including examining the expectations and benefits of potential careers and their impact on lifelong earning potential as well as learning how to utilize traditional and online banking services. A complete list of West Virginia state recommendations for teaching financial literacy can be found at the West Virginia Department of Education website, https://wvde.us/state-board-of-education.
Students aged 8-12 learn how to manage money by operating a virtual lemonade stand and saving their earnings for a new bike or similar object. Key topics include borrowing money, income, savings goals and counting currency.
Teens aged 13-18 learn about getting a job and saving enough money to register for college. Covered topics include budgeting, credit cards, checking accounts and income taxes.
Older students (16 and over) work on saving money for a down payment on a house while juggling everyday financial obligations. Tax returns, credits scores, identify theft and life insurance are among the covered topics.
"It teaches the risks of credit cards and interest and all those kinds of things you learn about along the way," added Channell.
Additional courses include a Digital Citizenship Course which focuses on preparing students to combat online dangers such as cyberbullying and how technology challenges. There's also a Cost of College Course which helps students break down the cost of college attendance. In this course, students create an expense list associated with one year of college, research different education paths and work to understand federal student aid and scholarships.
There is also a digital library where students can learn about topics such as the stock market, investing, insurance, and many other financial topics. This library continues to be available to the students after they complete their classroom program.
This program is free to all schools. Davis Trust Company covers the costs of all materials and expenses related to the program.
More information about Davis Trust Company and the Banzai financial literacy program can be found calling Channell at 304-636-0991.