JAG South Carolina and Bank of America

Jobs for America’s Graduates partners with many businesses and organizations throughout the United States.  Often times these organizations provide guest speakers who visit JAG classrooms, donate products or money to the JAG programs and offer their resources to assist the JAG programs in their community.  In South Carolina at West Florence High School,  Job Specialist Linda Williams partnered with Bank of America to help educate her JAG students.

Mrs. Vestina Davis-McElveen is a Personal Banker at Bank of America in Florence, South Carolina. Mrs. McElveen agreed to instruct the JAG class at West Florence High School in Financial Literacy & Financial Education.  In addition, Bank of America donated pens, pencils, and cups to each student. Mrs. McElveen provided a series of workshops that addressed topics related to financial literacy and education including: how to set a budget and stick to it, better money habits, bank accounts (saving and checking), keeping your financial information safe, earning compound interest, how does a mortgage work?, building credit and keeping it healthy, what is a credit score?, how does credit affect interest rates?, how much impact do negative mark have on my credit score?, how is credit card interest calculated?, and how to create a safety net for life’s unexpected events.

This series is a great example of the life skills that the JAG program includes in its curriculum. After this initial series of workshops Bank of America in Florence decided to adopt the Florence High School JAG program and will return every semester to teach this important series.