Katahdin teams up with teachers

    Sixty-three percent of Americans acknowledge not saving enough money, reports the Pew Research Center. That’s why several bankers from Katahdin Trust Company will be teaching area school children the value of saving their money, as part of National Teach Children to Save Day (TCTS) on April 27. These out-of-the-ordinary lessons will bring a fresh face to the classroom to encourage a greater appreciation of saving and spending wisely. TCTS lessons couple reality with learning, incorporating hands-on scenarios and real life experiences.     The TCTS program is sponsored by the American Bankers Association Education Foundation, and since 1997, has reached 3.4 million young people with the help of some 80,000 banker volunteers.
    Twenty-nine Katahdin Trust Company employees will be reaching out to over 780 students across northern Maine. Employees participating and the schools they will be attending include: at Hilltop School in Caribou: Ann Ellis, pre-k; Mattie Maynard, kindergarten; Paul Guimond, first grade; Julie Haney and Christine Voter, second grade.
    At the Teague Park School, participating educators include Yancy LaPointe and Jenny Charette of the third grade.
    Caribou Middle School educators include fifth-grade teachers Jana Shaw and Leslie Carlow.
    Paula Bernier, Erica McPherson, Mindy LaPointe, Selma Jane Phair and Rena Bouchard will be leading a tour of the Bank’s Limestone office for the kindergarten class of the Limestone Community School.
    Materials used in the presentations support curriculum standards which have been established by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of English and the Family and Consumer Sciences.
    “Many of life’s most important lessons are learned outside the walls of the classroom,” said Katahdin Trust Company Senior Vice President Vicki Smith, who oversees the bank’s efforts in the program. “Katahdin Trust Company employees are delighted to participate in conjunction with area teachers in helping children understand basic financial principles and the importance of a savings program, not just for today but for their futures.”
    Smith added that this is an important service Katahdin Trust Company can provide “in our community – to our friends, neighbors and customers.”