CENTERVILLE – Employees from Iowa Trust and Savings Bank started kids at Centerville High School on the path to a positive financial future by participating in National Teach Children to Save Day, an annual, nationwide event to teach kids their financial ABCs.

“Financial education is more memorable if it’s delivered by a banker, just as fire safety makes more sense coming from a firefighter,” said Renate Deininger, Vice President of Iowa Trust and Savings Bank. “Bankers bring the lessons to life and leave the children with a lasting impression that saving matters.”

Sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association Education Foundation (ABAEF), National Teach Children to Save Day is a day in April when bankers make presentations in schools across the country to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

On April 29, Becky Evers and Heidi Keller, employees of Iowa Trust and Savings Bank presented a program to the Family and Consumer Science class and the Consumer Math class at Centerville High School about money and savings, covering topics such as budgeting, the difference between needs and wants, why it’s important to save for emergencies and how interest makes money grow. Students had the opportunity to apply concepts and practices through games and other hands-on activities.

“Bankers are a natural fit for visiting classrooms to teach students how their money can grow,” said Deininger. “Students who become smart savers today can become smart investors and money managers tomorrow.”

Classroom materials that were used o National Teach Children to Save Day support curriculum standards established by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS).