On January 21 and February 4, the Junior League of Westchester-on-Hudson (JLWOH) provided financial and nutrition literacy education to thirty girls from the Girl Scouts of the Tarrytowns. Through the JLWOH’s MoneySmart Institute, the girls participated in a 7-hour workshop on basic financial principles. The girls’ participation enabled them to earn one of several financial literacy badges, a badge category recently developed by the Girl Scouts of the USA.
The JLWOH believes that acquiring knowledge and skills about personal financial principles at an early age is key to becoming a financially responsible adult. Through its MoneySmart Institute the JLWOH provides fundamental financial literacy education to youth, on the topics of earning, spending, saving, giving and investing.
Administering Junior Achievement’s JA More than Money economics and business curriculum, members of the JLWOH taught the girls key financial literacy skills in order to be able to: identify the role of money in everyday life; explain the benefits of a personal bank account; identify several characteristics of a positive work ethic; distinguish between working for someone and self-employment; and define the basic steps in planning and starting a business. One of the activities the girls engaged in was to form business partnerships and present their business plans to the group. One mother in attendance stated, “This was great, I think they are really going to start their pet business because of this workshop!”
The day began with a one-hour presentation of the JLWOH’s Get Smart Eat Breakfast! program, which raises awareness and imparts information about the importance of eating a healthy and balanced breakfast before school. The JLWOH believes that healthy eating habits enhance cognitive development and school performance, and that fostering nutritional literacy within school-aged children will help them succeed in school. The girls learned about how to make healthy food choices to fuel the body for both physical and mental activities and enjoyed eating some healthy no-cook breakfast items before beginning the MoneySmart Institute workshop. The Dannon Company donated yogurt for the breakfast.
