CRYSTAL LAKE COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT 47: U.S. Representative Sean Casten Visits Hannah Beardsley Students

By Press release submission

Apr 19, 2021

Crystal Lake Community Consolidated School District 47 recently issued the following announcement.

On Tuesday, April 6, U.S. Representative Sean Casten (6th congressional district) paid a virtual visit to Mr. Trevor Mack’s OASIS (Opportunities to Achieve Success In School) class at Hannah Beardsley Middle School in Crystal Lake. The virtual Zoom meeting was prompted by Mack’s class participation in the SIFMA Foundation’s Capitol Hill Challenge. During the Zoom meeting, students learned about the importance of financial education, fiscal policy making, and the capital markets, and had an opportunity to ask Rep. Casten questions.

For the past three years, Mack’s class has been participating in the SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game, where student teams get to manage a hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, investments and cash. Students learn integral workplace skills such as collaboration and critical thinking and improve their knowledge of personal finance.

This year, Mack’s class was one of 535 selected by the foundation to also participate in the Capitol Hill Challenge. According to its website, each year, with the full participation of Congress, the Capitol Hill Challenge (CHC) invites thousands of public school students nationwide to participate in a fun, educational online competition that instills a deeper understanding of personal finance and economics. Since its inception in 2004, CHC has made 5,500 matches of U.S. Senators and Representatives with schools, encompassing nearly 133,000 students across the country.

"We really appreciated having Rep. Casten join us,” said Mack. “The Stock Market Challenge has always been a fun and engaging activity for my students, but having a member of congress talk to the class made it very exciting this year!"

According to seventh grader Zach Inglis, "Talking to him [Rep. Casten] made me feel like I was doing something important." Sixth grader Elijah Garcia said, "I was really surprised that someone from congress would talk with us. It was really cool."

Original source can be found here.