Our Knowledgeable Team Develops & Delivers Teaching Strategies.
With more than 100 years of combined staff experience in economic education, Your Economic Success (YES) provides workshops, events, teaching strategies and lesson plans for the classroom and virtual environments that enable teachers to reach students in fun and engaging ways and to provide them with the knowledge and skills to succeed in school and in life.
John Kruggel
Director of the Center for Economic Education at JMU
John enthusiastically joined YES in 2018, after a very successful teaching career in Indiana. John received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2001 at Purdue University. In 2002, John worked with the Indiana Council for Economic Education and the Indiana Department of Education to develop a K-12 economics curriculum for the Jing Shan School on the island of Hainan in China. He trained teachers on economics content and best practices and the curriculum gained national recognition in China and won awards in Indiana.
John has been recognized throughout his career for excellence in teaching economics and for his work in developing national economic webinars and programming. In 2015, John worked with the Indiana Council for Economic Education to develop economics lesson plans, lead teacher workshops and provide professional development. He received his Master of Arts in Economics and Entrepreneurship for Educators program from the University of Delaware in 2017. John is passionate about finding and developing new economics and financial literacy activities, teaching strategies, lesson plans, personal finance, and other resources to share with teachers.
John spends most of his free time with his wife and two young children exploring the Valley. He coached high school football for more than a decade and watches games whenever he can.
Lauren Shifflett
YES-funded Teacher Advocate and Consultant and
Associate Director for the Center for Economic Education at JMU
Lauren Shifflett is the newest member of the team, joining in 2022 as Associate Director when John Kruggel moved up to the director position. Lauren became nationally known as an elementary economic educator when she received the John Morton Award of the national Council for Economic Education in 2021. As the winner, Lauren addressed her colleagues nationally on classroom technique at the “Award-Winning Teachers Share Best Practices” session of the Council’s annual convention.
Lauren is a 2010 graduate of Bridgewater College, where she majored in liberal studies. “My lessons are always about community, about building each other up and helping each other succeed,” she told Bridgewater magazine in an interview about her Morton award.
Lauren worked with John Kruggel to lead a new 2022 initiative, “Camp Millionaire,” that brought students to the ExploreMore Discovery Museum in Harrisonburg for a week of exploring personal finance topics.
Lynne Farrell Stover
Part-time YES-funded Teacher Advocate and Consultant
As a child in a career military family, Lynne traveled extensively until she attended Madison College (now JMU). After graduation in 1972, she taught for Rockingham County Schools and began taking courses at the JMU Center for Economic Education where she was inspired by fascinating content and innovative teaching methods. Lynne taught for thirty-three years in public education, enjoying assignments of classroom teacher, gifted education specialist, and librarian. Throughout her tenure, Lynne was a multiple award winner in local, regional, and statewide economic education competitions.
Lynne joined YES in 2005 as the full-time Teacher Advocate and Consultant and is passionate in sharing her enthusiasm for economics education with educators by using her experiences to develop teaching strategies, lesson plans, workshop sessions, and webinars that have been well received by teachers throughout the world. She assists teachers in developing interdisciplinary content by using popular children’s books to help teach economic concepts. Many of these units have been published and are now available online.
Lynne is the author of eight teacher resource books, including Fantastic Social Studies Lessons Using Literature (Pieces of Learning, 2005). She has also authored more than 50 educational articles and five national published lessons on EconEdLink. She was also instrumental in the launch of the Reading Makes Cent$ program here and across the state.
In her free time, you’ll find Lynne reading, gardening, and writing.
Debbie Bollinger
Secretary Senior
Debbie Bollinger has been working in economic education program support since 2001. Her work has included secretarial assistance, editing, program management and budgeting. Debbie previously worked as a travel counselor and has to her credit the successful startup of a catering business. Debbie grew up in Michigan and came to the Shenandoah Valley in 1985 to pursue her travel career. Debbie holds an administrative certificate from James Madison University. In her spare time, Debbie enjoys horseback riding and working with animals. With her husband Glenn Bollinger, senior pastor of Mill Creek Church of the Brethren in Port Republic, Virginia, Debbie cares for sheep, goats, chickens, geese, cats, one donkey, one horse and two camels.
