Spring Bank: Sends Brookfield Central High School teacher to DC conference on personal finance education in the classroom

Brookfield, WI, November 4, 2010 – Brookfield Central High School Business Department Chair and teacher Dan Wandrey heads to Washington DC to attend the only national educator conference devoted to personal finance education in the classroom. Brookfield-based Spring Bank is sponsoring Wandrey’s trip to the Jump$tart coalition’s second annual National Educator Conference for Financial Literacy November 5 -7.

“Jump$tart is the nation’s leading advocate for youth financial literacy and strives to prepare young people for life-long successful financial decision-making. That’s a goal we share at Spring Bank,” explained Bank President David Schuelke, “and in a recovering economy, a better understanding of how to manage our personal finances is more important than ever. The earlier we start teaching these lessons, the better.”

Wandrey, who has been a teacher with BCHS for 13 years, will have an opportunity to see, learn about, and try personal finance education tools and resources that can be integrated immediately into current lesson plans. BCH’s Business Department currently offers 16 courses.

“We need to increase the amount of fiscal responsibility we have as consumers and if we can get high school students to start thinking that way, they’ll be better off in the long run,” Wandrey says. The teacher believes the two most important topics students need to learn more about is saving and managing debt, especially credit card debt where college students are especially vulnerable to mailings from credit card companies.

School Board Vice President Meg Wartman appreciates Spring Bank’s willingness to “have our teachers kept current on new ideas, keep lessons exciting for kids and prepare them for future. In times when districts are budget cutting, we can’t afford all of the educational opportunities we’d like to make available to our teachers so it’s nice to have support of community partners like Spring Bank.”

Wandrey and Spring Bank will meet when the teacher returns from the conference to discuss highlights from the conference and possible opportunities to work together to assist Wandrey’s efforts to implement conference lessons in the classroom. Wandrey’s ultimate goal as a business and personal finance educator is that completing a personal finance class is a requirement for high school graduation.

# # #

About Spring Bank: Spring Bank provides the personalized service that business owners and individuals deserve from experienced bankers at 16655 West Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 100. Call 262.754.5555 or click http://www.springbankwi.com.