These are the sounds of elementary-aged children demonstrating their economics knowledge and sharpening their business skills:
- Sustained chatter filling the air in a conference room at standard kid level: that threshold adults might label shouting but which is really just excited talking.
- A hushed quiet of concentration, along with the shuffle of papers during an economics test.
- Young voices singing a bouncy jingle to sell a panel of judges on their business plan.
This was the soundtrack for the 37th Meaningful Economics Competition, which brings together students in third- through fifth-grade classrooms around Delaware every spring. The event is hosted by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE), part of the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and sponsored by the Delaware Council on Economic Education, Discover Bank and Bank of America. Volunteers come from Sussex County government, the sponsoring banks and others including M&T Bank and JP Morgan Chase. Community members also participate, like former teachers who return year after year to help judge.
The competition ran from May 21-23 upstate in Newark, and May 30 in Georgetown in southern Delaware. In Newark, third, fourth and fifth grades each got a day to compete in applied learning, comprehension and presentation, with typically more than 100 students attending each day. All told, more than 400 participated this year from 19 schools.
CEEE founded the event in 1987 to promote economic education among Delaware students.
“How old were you in 1987?” asked Bonnie Meszaros, CEEE’s elementary school program coordinator. The question posed no challenge for the room full of fifth-graders: “Zero!”
Under Meszaros’ veteran guidance — she’s been with CEEE throughout the event’s history — the crowd of kids quieted down quickly when necessary to focus on various tasks. These included a team project to assemble thank-you cards for first responders, in which the students organized and allocated resources to make a quality product; a written test; and a group presentation of a marketing project to a group of judges. A pile of blue, red, white and yellow ribbons awaited the first- through fourth-place winners in the various contests.
“I think it’s a great way for my students to demonstrate what they’ve been learning in the classroom … and get out of their comfort zone as well,” said Kariana Maldonado, an English immersion math and social studies teacher at Las Americas ASPIRA Academy in Newark, at the fifth-grade competition on Thursday, May 23.
She said students are excited to participate in this event year after year. “They love it.”
We frequently come across issues related to economics in our lives, she noted. “I think it’s a skill set that they need to have in the real world.”
Barbara O’Neal, who trains new hires at Discover Bank, has been in her business for more than 30 years and has seen that need firsthand.
“I think it’s so imperative to instill the importance of economics, math, general banking,” said O’Neal, who served as a judge at the fifth-grade event. She added, “(It) is exciting for me to be a part of this.”
So many of the new hires she trains come in without basic knowledge, she says. Some have never had a checking account, or don’t know what an annual percentage rate is.
“I stop and I backtrack and I’ll put my curriculum to the side, because you have to have the foundational knowledge,” O’Neal said.
It doesn’t look like she’ll have to do that kind of remedial training if any of these students applies for a job someday. The written test, for example, is not a particularly easy one, covering topics like opportunity cost, command economies, and mediums of exchange. A certain adult writer with a college education, who will go unnamed here, scored 17 out of 25, beaten handily by the top-scoring fifth-grader’s 20 correct answers. (To be fair, it had been more than 15 years since the writer’s Intro to Macroeconomics course, but still.)
For their presentations to judges, the students came up with proposals for an outdoor space at a school, choosing between a playground, garden, or classroom, using some recycled materials and working in ways to make it accessible to special-needs students. They sketched out designs on posters to go along with their marketing pitch.
Some were a little tongue-tied, while others exhibited showmanship and bowed after their pitch.
“Gro site, we work together, Gro Site, we make everything better,” sang a team from Downes Elementary about their outdoor garden concept, throwing in dance moves as well. “Flowers, trees and bees are part of our Gro Site family. Gro Site: We grow better together.”
“I think the skills that this competition brings, specifically for presenting in front of people, is huge,” said Kyra Giakas, an analyst for JPMorgan Chase who served as a judge. “And that carries kids a long way.”
At that age, she wasn’t making presentations in school, Giakas noted. Meszaros had a similar take: “I could not have done that in fifth grade.”
A team from Thurgood Marshall Elementary took first place in the written test. West Park Place Elementary earned a blue ribbon in the team production activity, and Keene Elementary won the pitch contest with their idea for a dome-covered outdoor space to teach kids about the ecosystem.
Afterward, the Keene students said their presentation was a little nerve-wracking the first time, but not as much in the finalist round – and they learned from experience.
“The second time we read everything a little faster,” Nylah Williams said. Her teammates included Giovanni Petro, Samuel Beadle, and Collin Whittington.
Over the years since the competition was first offered, Meszaros said, more schools have been offering economics education, and she’s seen the results.
“I’m beginning to see that reflected in the (Meaningful Economics) test scores,” she said.