Babylon HS Unveiling Financial Literacy Challenge Program Thursday

Babylon Junior-Senior High School business and family and consumer science (FACS) departments, selected in August as one of 25 organizations to participate in Capital One Bank's first Financial Literacy Challenge on Long Island, will unveil its program this Thursday evening at Hofstra University in Hempstead.

The Capital One Bank Financial Literacy Challenge is an awards program designed to encourage money management best practices among children and adults throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. Each of the 25 organizations will be awarded $5,000 to help implement their respective financial education programs between September 2012 and May 2013.

Two grantees that demonstrate the greatest impact on the populations they serve will each be awarded an additional $15,000 contribution from Capital One Bank in the spring of 2013.

The organizations will unveil all of their plans this Thursday evening at the Hofstra University Club from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Babylon's plan in August was to use the grant to purchase financial literacy hardware, implement new online financial literacy games provided by Capital One Bank through the grant and help defray the costs of field trips to Wall Street and the Financial District.

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"We plan to continue our efforts to educate our students on the importance of being financially savvy," Babylon High School Director of Practical Arts Claire Reilly said in a press statement in August. "All of our eighth grade FACS students are taught a financial literacy lesson by FACS teacher Jenna Cucci. Our 11th and 12th graders participate in the National Financial Capability Challenge and the WISE Jump Start Financial Literacy program." Reilly also noted the district plans to implement a financial literacy class starting in the preschool.

Teachers in the two departments will also undergo training to expand their expertise on the subject of financial literacy. The individuals participating in the grant process are Reilly, Babylon High School business teacher Andrew Marulis and FACS teachers Jenna Cucci and Lisa Brush.

Babylon Junior-Senior High School is the only public high school in the competition.