2018 Winners Honored

2018 award winners

From left, Caitlin Mueller, Tara Counts, Tammy May, Tara Hardy, Linda King, Stephanie Driver, Cynthia Lam, Lisa Long, Bethany Everidge, Callie Randolph, Lacey Clarke and Holly Bazzle were recognized as 2018 winners.

On Oct. 8, teachers from the Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Public Schools received awards for their innovative projects in economic education. The awards were sponsored by the Harrisonburg Rotary Club and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc. The awards include cash prizes ranging up to $1,000 for the grand prize.

2018 award winners

From left, top local winners Caitlin Mueller, Tara Counts, Tammy May, Tara Hardy, Lisa Long and Bethany Everidge.

dianna alger

Dianna Alger

Awards were presented at the regular Monday meeting of the Rotary Club. Dianna Alger of Page County High School was also honored separately as the Virginia Council on Economic Education’s nominee for Economic Educator of the Year representing the Shenandoah Valley region.

The teachers honored also included these grade-level winners:

  • Virginia Munns of Smithland Elementary School, for her project, “2nd Graders + Big Hearts = Kindness,” which won first place in the primary (K-2) division.
  • Linda King, Holly Bazzle, Lacey Clark and Stephanie Driver of John C. Myers Elementary, for their project, “Class Dojo Economics,” which won second place in the primary (K-2) division.
  • Tara Hardy and Tammy May of John C. Myers Elementary, for their project, “Kids Market,” which won first place in the elementary (grades 3-5) division.
  • Nora S. Fletcher of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, for her project, “An Autism Awareness Campaign Filled with Scents/Cents,” which won first place in the Middle School division.
  • Callie Randolph of Skyline Middle School, for her project, “Life in the Real World,” which won second place in the Middle School division.
  • Cynthia Lam of Elkton Middle School, for her project, “Lifestyle Budget,” which won third place in the Middle School division.
  • Bethany Everidge of Harrisonburg High School, for her project, “What are Common Words Anyways? Supporting Students through Tier-Two Vocabulary and Financial Literacy,” which won first place in the High School division.

Overall winners in the competition were:

  • Tara Counts and Caitlin Mueller of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, for their project, “Restaurant Possible,” which won the grand prize in the overall competition.
  • Lisa Long and Walt Williamson of Harrisonburg High School, for their project, “The Blue Streak Stitching Company,” which won the reserve grand prize in the overall competition.

SVEE is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote economic literacy in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

2017 Winners Honored

2017 award winners

From left, Beth Yelverton, Allen J. Ruliffson, Emily Hartman, Holly Kincaid, Callie Randolph, Nora S. Fletcher, Virginia Munns, Lisa Long, Russell Kohrs and Walt Williamson were recognized as 2017 winners.

On Oct. 2, teachers from the Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Public Schools were received awards for their innovative approaches to economic education. The awards were sponsored by the Harrisonburg Rotary Club and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc. The awards include cash prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000.

Awards were presented at the regular Monday meeting of the Rotary Club. Beth Yelverton of Ottobine Elementary School was honored for her work with the economic literacy reading program, “Reading Makes Cent$,” sponsored by Virginia 529.

The teachers honored also included these grade-level winners:

  • Virginia Munns of Smithland Elementary School, for her project, “Volunteering Acts of Kindness,” which won first place in the primary (K-2) division.
  • Emily Hartman of South River Elementary School, for “The South River Breakfast Cart,” which won first place in the elementary (grades 3-5) division.
  • Allen J. Ruliffson of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, for his project, “Learn it. Sell it. Love it. On eBay.,” which won second place in the middle school division.
  • Callie Randolph and Holly Kincaid of Skyline Middle School, for their project, “Monster Factory,” which won first place in the middle school division.
  • Russell Kohrs of Massanutten Regional Governor’s School for Environmental Science and Technology, for “Over the Cliff or Sustaining the System: An Exploration of EROI (Energy Returned on Energy Invested),” which won first place in the high school division.

The overall winners were

  • Nora S. Fletcher of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, for her project, “Poverty in America: Addressing Disparities through Action,” which won the reserve grand prize in the overall competition division.
  • Lisa Long and Walt Williamson of Harrisonburg High School, for their project, “Joe to Go!,” which won the grand prize in the overall competition. Judges were impressed with the project’s integration of economics and life skills for the special education students who participated.

SVEE is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote economic literacy in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

2016 Award Winners Recognized

2016 award winners

From left, Russell Kohrs, Beth Yelverton, Allen Ruliffson, Callie Randolph, Emily Hartman, Marta Frederick, Lisa Long and Virginia Munns were recognized as winners in the 2016 awards competition.

Educators from the Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Public Schools were honored for their innovative and effective ways of bringing economics lessons to the classroom. The Economic Education Awards, presented on Oct. 17, were sponsored by the Harrisonburg Rotary Club and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc. The awards include cash prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000.

“Economics is important–and everybody understands that in a presidential election year,” said JMU economics professor William Wood, director of the university’s Center for Economic Education. “Economic education may even be more important than economics at a time such as this. Think about how different our campaign might be if large numbers of voters truly understood economics and did not fall for easy slogans.”

Russell Kohrs of the Massanutten Regional Governor’s School for Environmental Science and Technology was the grand prize winner. His project, “Exploring Energy: An Economic and Environmental Exploration of Solar Energy,” taught students important lessons on environmental principles and economic concepts.

The reserve grand prize went to Lisa Long and Walt Williamson of Harrisonburg High School for creating “The Blue Streak Food Company,” a meal delivery business for teachers that involved students at every stage–from recipe selection to delivery.

Virginia Munns of Smithland Elementary School was the first-place winner in the elementary division. Her project, “Auction Antics,” involved kindergarten students exchanging pennies for items ranging from pets to privileges to teach lessons about cost and choice.

Two projects were recognized in the middle school division. Allen J. Ruliffson of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School won first place honors for “Diamonds are Forever.” The project engaged all of Hillyard’s seventh graders in studies of the international market for diamonds. The second place prize was won by Callie Randolph and Marta Frederick of Skyline Middle School for “Homemade Vs. Store-Bought Crepes.” The three-day lesson used an extended cost comparison to teach students about marketing, decision-making and cooking.

All of the projects were entered in a statewide competition, which awards three prizes for the K-12 level. Randolph and Frederick’s project received the second place award in that competition, while Long and Williamson received third place for their project. These awards will be presented on Dec. 9 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

In addition to the local awards, regional and state-level honors were presented at the event:

  • Beth Yelverton, librarian at Ottobine Elementary School, was the Shenandoah Regional Winner for the “Reading Makes Cent$” program, sponsored by the Virginia 529 college savings plan. Under Yelverton’s direction, Ottobine students read the most economics-relevant books in the Shenandoah region.
  • Hillyard’s Ruliffson, who was honored in the local competition, was named Virginia Social Studies Teacher of the Year. He also will be recognized at the annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies.
  • Sondra Colvin and Emily Hartman of South River Elementary School were winners in a statewide mini-grant competition sponsored by the Virginia Council on Economic Education. They used their mini-grant to start a “Coffee Cart” business at the school, involving their 4thand 5th grade students. The business was so successful that it expanded to become the “The South River Breakfast Cart,” complete with hand-made uniforms for the student employees who served teachers throughout the school.

The JMU Center for Economic Education is an affiliate of the Virginia Council on Economic Education. Its teacher outreach is a sponsored program of Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that seeks to promote economic literacy and understanding of the free enterprise system in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.