Stephen Bidwell Named Future Scholar Financial Literacy Program’s Teacher of the Month

Congratulations to Stephen Bidwell of Bridge Creek Elementary in Elgin. Bidwell was named the Future Scholar Financial Literacy Program’s Teacher of the Month for April.

Bidwell’s students at the Richland District 2 School have been using the web-based, interactive program to explore such topics as budgeting and differentiating between needs and wants. They also put their financial skills to work in a weekly club where members participate in a stock market game.

Bidwell thinks teaching financial literacy to young people is critical to long-term stability later in life.

“People with a higher degree of financial literacy accumulate more wealth, invest more, pay less fees and avoidable charges, and are less likely to experience difficulty with debt,” he said.

The program served some 15,000 middle school students in South Carolina during the 2014 to 2015 school year. South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis hopes to take the program to an additional 175 elementary schools around the state this year.

“Financial literacy is so important, not only to the financial health and well being of our citizens but for the economic stability of our state on a whole,” he said.

For more information or to learn how you can bring the Future Scholar Financial Literacy program to your classroom, visit http://scfuturescholar.everfi.com.