Back in the Saddle

Yeah, I know – it’s been a while since I’ve written any rantings on the blog. From Labor Day on, my life has been a blur.

During the past 2 months it seems like I’ve been in event planning mode – from recognizing community / business partnerships with Granite State schools and celebrating school volunteerism in New Hampshire on behalf of New Hampshire Partners in Education to coordinating a national teacher conference for the Jump$tart Coalition.

It might sound like a lot of grunt work (and there’s plenty), but in reality I choose to see myself as being in the feel-good business.

1. In September, over 200 community partnerships were recognize3d at our annual NHPIE Gold Circle Awards. These partnerships provided instructional, financial, or volunteer support to their local schools.


2. In October, 186 Granite State schools and their volunteer programs were spotlighted at our 29th Annual Blue Ribbon Award ceremony. The contributions of individual school volunteers were also noted and celebrated by the 500 people in attendance.


3. Also at the school Blue Ribbon awards, we announced the results of our annual Power of the Penny campaign. This is essentially – an old-fashioned penny drive that schools conduct for goals or causes that they select. Many of the schools allow the children themselves to decide what to raise the money for. This year, 36 schools participated and collectively, the children raised over 2.8 million pennies - $28,000 – and all of it was donated to charity! The children learned a great deal about the power of a penny and the impact of charitable giving.


4. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, the Jump$tart Coalition conducted its 2nd annual National Educator Conference. Over 200 teachers from 47 states attended the only national conference specifically devoted to personal finance. The event was very well received by the teachers as well as the exhibitors and we all feel good about motivating teachers to bring this life skill into the classroom.

So now I look up and Thanksgiving is next week! And that can only mean one thing – Black Friday is around the corner. Time to refocus my attention to my passion – advocating youth financial literacy. Giddy-up! (and it still feels good!)