Farmers brings financial literacy education to students

In 2012, Farmers National Bank announced an initiative to bring financial literacy education to high school students across the Mahoning Valley by providing them with access to the EverFiTM Financial Literacy Platform. This web-based program uses the latest in new media technologies – video, animations, 3-D gaming, avatars, and social networking – to bring complex financial concepts to life for today’s digital generation.

Through the Farmers National Bank Financial Scholars Program, students become certified in more than 600 topics in financial education, allowing them to become more informed, responsible citizens. Farmers National Bank has committed to fully fund the $120,000 program bringing the interactive financial management program to these students at no cost to the schools.

Farmers National Bank has announced that during the 2012-2013 School Year, more than 1,000 students from 19 area high schools received certification in financial literacy utilizing the Farmers Financial Scholars Program. Among those schools were Austintown Fitch, Boardman, Canfield and Poland.

“Improving financial literacy is an important initiative at Farmers National Bank,” said John S. Gulas, president and chief executive officer, Farmers National Bank. “Farmers values education—and the benefits it provides our business community in terms of future employee development. The Farmers Financial Scholars Program funding will provide our Valley’s young people with the latest technology for the advancement of their personal financial literacy. We will teach them to manage money responsibility, thereby giving them a skill that will serve them well their entire lives.”

The 10-unit course offers six hours of programming aimed at teaching, assessing and certifying students in a variety of financial topics, including credit scores, insurance, credit cards, student loans, mortgages, taxes, stocks, savings, 401K’s and other critical concepts that map to national financial literacy standards. The platform uniquely tracks the progress and score of every student and provides students who successfully complete the course with Certification in Financial Literacy, a valuable mark of distinction on college applications and resumes.