Published September 20, 2013
网曝门 DREAM and CenturyLink educate children in financial literacy
On Friday, Sept. 20, the University of Louisiana at Monroe College of Education and
Human Development鈥檚 Developing Rigorous Experiential Academic Models (DREAM) Office
partnered with CenturyLink to present CenturyLink Reader Leaders鈥攁 new literacy initiative
program for the area.
The program places CenturyLink employees and 网曝门 education teacher candidates into
local elementary school classrooms twice per month to read children鈥檚 books promoting
financial literacy and basic business principles.
Dr. Lynn Clark, assistant professor of curriculum, instruction, and leadership and
the director of DREAM, said, 鈥淭he CenturyLink Reader Leaders program helps students
start thinking about college and career choices by bringing the world of work into
the classroom through literature and diverse role models.鈥�
The program began last spring at Berg Jones Lane Elementary School, where CenturyLink
employees read aloud to third and fourth grade classrooms, engaging students and sharing
their own stories as they discussed the economic ideas within the stories.
鈥淭he CenturyLink Reader Leader program gives us the chance to start early in introducing
children to what the future might hold for them in the business world,鈥� said Odell
Riley, CenturyLink vice president of IT operations services and 网曝门 graduate. 鈥淲e
want to help ensure today鈥檚 children have multiple opportunities in tomorrow鈥檚 high-tech
world. We鈥檙e excited to partner with 网曝门 as this program grows to more schools.鈥�
One book included in the program, 鈥淢y Rows and Piles of Coins鈥� by Tololwa M. Mollel,
follows Saruni, a young boy who acts as both consumer and seller in his local Tanzanian
market. His story highlights the costs and benefits of spending and saving money,
touching on various economic concepts made accessible for students in elementary grades.
Clark expects great things from the program. She said, 鈥淪tudents can see themselves
and their future in the books and [in the readers], who share their stories of how
they moved from the classroom to successful careers at CenturyLink.鈥�
The program expects to impact over a thousand elementary students over the next year.
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