(by Don Meador, November 10, 2021)
A community collaboration between the Family and Consumer Science (FCS) Department at Allen County-Scottsville High School, the Allen County UK Cooperative Extension Service, and four local financial institutions helped FCS students learn more about money management and tap their creativity in the process.
“A few weeks ago, I spoke to students in Mrs. (Olivia) Farris and Mrs. (Katina) Humphrey’s classes about basic financial education,” explained Allen County Extension Agent Kelly Burgess. “We talked about spending and overall money management. We used the Money Attitudes cards to look at spending habits and talk about that.”
To finish the program, FCS students were given the opportunity to participate in the “Allen County Piggy Bank Pageant.” Students were asked to create or decorate their own unique piggy bank based on guidelines from the America Saves program. Each entry was judged for an overall winner, runner-up, student choice, or a theme category (Patriotic Pig, Foodie Fantastic Pig, or Bling- Bling Pig) awards. The overall winner received $50, runner-up $30, student choice $20, and theme winners $20. The piggy banks were judged by representatives from the sponsoring local banks---Edmonton State Bank, First Bank, South Central Bank, and US Bank.
Selected as the overall winner was the bank created by Payton Etheridge. The runner-up design was by Natasha Rios with the student choice piggy bank created by Luis Mazaner. Keeley Richardson designed the Patriotic Pig category winner, Amber Smith prepared the Bling-Bling piggy bank winner, while Jessica Smith designed the Foodie Fantastic Pig category champion.
The overall winning piggy bank creation will move on to higher competition.
“This is actually a statewide contest through America Saves with the county winners going to the area level,” Burgess explained. “If they win at the area level, the piggy bank is displayed in Frankfort in February to celebrate America Saves Week.”
Approximately 65 piggy banks were entered in the pageant.