“Making Cents of Financial Literacy” – About the Fellowship

Mentor Creighton Blackwell and Kenan Fellow Emmalea Couch discussing candidates for branch manager positions after interviews Monday, June 29.

Mentor Creighton Blackwell and Kenan Fellow Emmalea Couch discuss candidates for Coastal branch manager positions after interviews Monday, June 29, 2015.

  • Where I Teach: C. E. Jordan High School (Durham Public Schools)
  • What I Teach: English
  • Teaching Experience:
    • 4 years @ C. E. Jordan High School
    • 1 year @ West Wilkes High School
  • Why Kenan Fellows: Teaching English is great, but I missed challenging myself with math and science. Getting involved in STEM programming attracted me to the KFP (Kenan Fellows Program) initially. I chose my specific fellowship, “Making Cents of Financial Literacy,” because I felt financial education was lacking in my own school experience and I wanted to provide it to my students and others in the community.
  • Goals of my Internship:
    • Network with STEM educators to make my classroom instruction more interdisciplinary and to reinvigorate my passion for education.
    • Develop partnerships with community members to expand what resources I can make available to my students and their families.
    • Become financially competent and learn the lexicon and skills necessary to pass on that competence to others.
    • Develop a financial literacy curriculum targeted at seniors preparing to leave high school and enter the world as (hopefully) productive citizens.
    • Lead a Financial Literacy Community Outreach Night targeted to the families of Jordan students to address debt, budgeting, and future financial planning.