THE GAZETTE
Page A-12
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 r
SCHOOL LIFE EDUCATION NOTEBOOK
PHOTOS BY PEGGY MCEWAN/THE GAZETTE
(From left) Autumn Wang, Amanda Chu and Hannah Perez, students at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown, work together on a lesson on personal credit during a financial literacy program for seventh-graders at the school. Below: (From left) Eric Solis, Liam McCue, Dylan Snow and Bryan Foo, also seventh-graders at the school, discuss the lesson.
Students learn finance lessons they can bank on Organizers hope financial literacy will soon be embedded in the county’s math curriculum n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
The ABCs of personal finance include budgeting, credit, savings and investments — words most middle school students do not hear very often. Seventh-graders at Roberto Clemente Middle School, Germantown, studied those basics during Financial Literacy Day April 8 at the school. “The overall concept is to prepare students financially for the future so they can proceed with dignity and respect,” said Colleen Roux, seventh grade team leader who planned the day. Roux worked with organizers from Banking on Our Future, Operation Hope, and volunteers from local banks and other financial organizations who volunteered to facilitate lessons designed to get students thinking about using their money wisely now and in the future. Even seventh-graders have money, Michelle Hammonds, program manager with Banking on Our Future, Operation Hope, said. “They get money for chores, for during well in school, gifts, allowance,” she said. “It’s not a question of having money, it’s what to do with it once they
First-graders winners in White House film festival
Bookmark contest seeks student submissions
A video produced by eight first-graders from East Silver Spring Elementary School was named one of 16 winners in the inaugural White House Student Film Festival. The students met President Barack Obama and Bill Nye the Science Guy on Feb. 28 at the White House. Eric Humpert, father of firstgrader Ashley Humpert, heard about a call for entries focusing on the president’s initiative “Technology and Education,” and discussed with her the idea of making a video with her classmates on the use of technology in the classroom. After visiting the school and brainstorming ideas with students and teacher Courtney Brooks, Humpert invited them and their parents to his home for the taping. Seven accepted, plus one of Ashley’s friends from a different class. Of 2,500 entries, their production, “Technology and Me,” was chosen a winner. The film included student drawings of technology in the past and the present, and possibilities for the future, Humpert said. “It was all the kids’ ideas, their words and their imaginations that made it,” he said. “I just got it on the screen.” In addition to having their photo taken with Obama and watching their video with him, the students received some White House souvenirs during their visit. “It was a long day, but it was great. The kids were pretty excited,” Humpert said.
Young artists and bibliophiles are invited to design an original bookmark that celebrates their love of reading for the First Book-Montgomery County fifth annual Bookmark Contest. The winning design will become an official bookmark of First Book-Montgomery County, the local chapter of the national First Book organization, whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Prekindergartners through eighth-graders are eligible to participate. Awards will be presented in four age groups: pre-K/kindergarten; grades 1-3; grades 4-6; and grades 7-8. One grand-prize winner also will receive a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. Entry forms are at firstbook. org/montgomerycountymd. Completed entry forms must be postmarked by May 17. For more information, email firstbookmcmd@gmail. com.
Two Bullis seniors named Jefferson Scholars
Brenda Ajavon, Seneca Valley High School, Germantown; Abigail Joy Cajayon, Rockville High School; Adonis Corvoisier, Thomas Edison High School of Technology, Silver Spring; Leena Daniel, Takoma Academy, Takoma Park; Whitney Geohagan, Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington; Aaryn Godby, John F. Kennedy High School, Silver Spring; Charles Halverson, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac; Harry Laird, Landon School, Bethesda; Jana Lu, Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville; Shimona Malik, Clarksburg High School; Krishna Mudwari, Watkins Mill High School, Gaithersburg; Lisa Mutooni, Paint Branch High School, Burtonsville; Bala Natarajan, Springbrook High School, Silver Spring; Penelope Placide, Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, Takoma Park; Renzo Reyes, Quince Orchard High School, Gaithersburg; Kierra Simpkins, Col. Zadok Magruder High School, Rockville; Margaret Simpson, James Hubert Blake High School, Silver Spring; Gislene Tasayco, Gaithersburg High School; Daniela Velasquez, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring; Doopashika Welikala, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School; and Bradley Wolanin, Northwest High School,
Brian Mitchell and Jack Chellman, seniors at Bullis
get it.” Hammonds said her organization usually works with students from low and moderate income homes. “A lot of these kids are not having this conversation around the dinner table because most of their parents don’t know about it,” she said. Dylan Snow, 13, said he thought what they were learning was important for the future, especially how to manage budgets. He said he gets a $5 weekly allowance and usually saves it until he can buy a video game or something else
he wants. Hannah Perez said she liked learning what the words mean when discussing loans and other financial terms. She said she gets an allowance plus $5 for helping with chores, earns money babysitting and gets money for gifts. “I actually like saving it up for something important like video games or clothes or I give it to my parents for college,” she said. Using money wisely is key, Hammonds said. “A lot of times people assume that because you have a
lot of money, you know what to do with it, but people struggle with this across the spectrum,” she said. Her suggestions for financial dignity: “Save for a rainy day and don’t let your outgoing exceed your incoming,” she said. Roux said she hopes to see financial literacy embedded in the curriculum some day soon. “Budgeting, that’s huge,” she said. “It’s a fundamental concept that needs to be embedded in math.” pmcewan@gazette.net
School in Potomac, were selected to receive prestigious Jefferson Scholarships from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. MItchell is from Rockville. His activities at Bullis have included goalie for the varsity soccer team; founder, fundraiser and head of Robotics Club; varsity tennis; and editorin-chief of the school paper, The Bulldog. He also ran summer camps in his neighborhood to teach kids about technology. He doesn’t know yet what he’ll study at Virginia because, he said, his interests are far-ranging, from math and computers to philosophy and English. Chellman lives in Arlington, Va. His activities at Bullis have included co-president of Student Government; director of Student Tutors; International Thespian Society — he has participated in winter musicals every year since sixth grade; cross-country; school ambassador/tour guide; peer mentor; National Honor Society; and member of the Bullis Dance Ensemble. He plans to study creative writing at Virginia.
NOTICE OF HEARING Notice is hereby given that the Mayor and Council of Rockville, Maryland, will conduct a public hearing on Monday, May 5, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as it may be heard, in the Council Chamber, Rockville City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland, in connection with a Resolution of the Mayor and Council of Rockville, pursuant to Article XI-E of the Constitution of Maryland, Section 4-304 of the Local Government Article, and the Charter of the City of Rockville, as amended, to amend Section 6 of Article VIII, “Personnel,” of the Charter of the City of Rockville so as to Expand the List of Prohibitions which in any way Discriminate against Any Person in the City’s Classified Civil Service or Anyone Seeking Admission to the Classified Civil Service; to Eliminate the Prohibition on Favoring Certain Individuals in the City’s Classified Civil Service or Certain Individuals Seeking Admission to the Classified Civil Service; and to Increase the Fine to $500.00 for a Violation of said Section 6 of Article VIII “Personnel.” More detailed information can be found on file in the office of the City Clerk. Persons wishing to testify at the hearing are asked to call 240-314-8280 before 4:00 p.m. on the date of the hearing to have their names placed on the speakers’ list. MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF ROCVILLE, MARYLAND By: Douglass A. Barber, City Clerk 1910574
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Students win Comcast scholarships Twenty-one students from Montgomery County schools last month were awarded $1,000 scholarships by the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program. The scholarship program recognizes students’ leadership skills, academic achievement and commitment to community service. The students are as follows:
Germantown.