Bankers usually honor each other at their conferences for service to the industry or their communities.
This year the Young Bankers Division of the Tennessee Bankers Association gave accolades to a schoolteacher who promotes financial literacy in her classroom.
At their leadership convention this spring, the up-and-coming bankers presented Tina Brasington the group's first Financial Literacy Teacher of the Year Award. She got a plaque and $100.
Ms. Brasington, who teaches English to seventh- and eighth-grade students at New Center School in Sevierville, Tenn., works in lessons on managing personal and business finances.
"When I give my students writing assignments, I like to give them topics that make them think about some of the choices they may make later on in life," she said.
One assignment is to write about how making a habit of paying only the minimum payment on a credit card bill would put them in debt. Another asks students to explain why it may be more beneficial to buy a car or house with a loan than by depleting savings, and another asks them to discuss the use of math in making smart selections in the grocery store.
Ms. Brasington got Nike Inc. to sponsor a Nike Apprentice Challenge at her school. She put her students into 14 groups, each of which came up with products to sell at school basketball games.
The team with the highest profit margin at each game received Nike T-shirts, and each member of the winning Challenge team for the season got a $50 gift certificate from the sporting-goods retailer. Students also learned to devise budgets and marketing plans under the Nike program.
Under the On Your Own program from the University of Tennessee's extension service, they are given make-believe jobs and families and instructed not to exceed their salaries to pay for a list of expenses provided by Ms. Brasington.
Nancy Sims, the principal at New Center School, nominated Ms. Brasington for the award. "It's not typical for an English teacher to incorporate economics" in lessons, Ms. Sims said. "She's also willing to look for special projects that really get the children involved."
Chet A. Alexander, a senior vice president at First State Bank in Union City, Tenn., and the Young Bankers Division president, said Young Bankers members would like to see the award spur more teachers to include financial literacy in their curriculums.
"Hopefully, the word will spread that we really care about what they are doing," Mr. Alexander said.
