Spending, saving and sharing

‘ELE‘ELE — The ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School third-grade class celebrated the three S’s of financial literacy, Friday.

“It is important for young people to learn about spending, saving and sharing,” said Georgeatte Galicinao-Cayaban, the manager and CEO for Kaumakani FCU. “These are the fundamentals of financial literacy and it was good and exciting to see students visit the credit union with their money in Zip Lock bags for deposit.”

The School Kids Savings Program was a collaborative effort between the Kaumakani Federal Credit Union; Dr. Liela Nitta, principal of ‘Ele‘ele School; and the school’s third-grade classes and parents.

Sixty third-grade students were celebrated during the School Kids Savings Project special assembly where selected students were acknowledged for their efforts, but all of the class being rewarded for its accomplishments in financial literacy.

Galicinao-Cayaban said the program is also about spending and making wise choices and decisions about “Do I need this, or do I want this?”

Ashley Newton, one of three third grade teachers in charge of the program, said of the 60 students, 46 opened savings accounts at the Kaumakani FCU where a representative from the credit union would visit the school once a month to collect deposits for the children’s savings accounts and encourage the students in financial literacy education.

To create a complete program, Newton, Lori Carl and Alisha Siliado devised a play money program where students could earn play money for doing tasks around the school such as helping with the books in the library or reading to other students.

The play money could be “spent” in a special store where third grade students assumed the various roles of the store including manager, greeters, cashiers, receipt writers, inventory clerks, stock clerks and security guards.

“They took their roles very seriously,” said Nitta. “The teachers were fabulous. I would see them working together to plan out the store and even see them shopping for items which went to the store.”

“Shopping” in the store taught students about choices, comparison shopping and savings, Galicinao-Cayaban said.

This supplemented the classroom work where students graphed their savings.

“This program started two years ago,” Galicinao-Cayaban said. “This is the second class and following eight months, the class has collectively saved more than $4,000. Between the two classes, the students have amassed more than $7,000.”

Dr. Michael Cheang, a professor at the University of Hawai‘i, initiated the program following a research project when he approached Nitta about the possibility of ‘Ele‘ele School being one of the Neighbor Island schools.

He issued $25 for each student who opened an account at the Kaumakani FCU, and on Friday, announced six awards of $50 which will go to accounts of students who were selected based on an essay on the importance of savings as well as the impact it has had on them.

Chelsty Ralleca, Jei Li Dela Cruz, Keaton McCallum, Zyana Vea, Julienne Kate Torres Gawaran and Makoa Vanaman are now $50 richer after their pieces were selected.

Kaitlyn Garcia, Layla Sahut-Gray, Gavin Mangayayam were also selected, being issued varying sums of play money.

Alyssa Lim, Crystal Papa and Adrian Sarapio were presented with Monopoly games for leading the play money savings.

“The students learned a lot of valuable lessons through this program,” Nitta said. “I’m so proud it started when Galicinao-Cayaban talked about the importance of learning financial literacy and ‘Ele‘ele School is the only school on Kaua‘i participating in this program which is statewide.”

Newton said recruitment for next year’s program is already taking place in the ‘Ele‘ele School second grade class.