Article by: Anne Li of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Photo by: Colin Murphey
Two Little Rock School District teachers were surprised Monday with an award for excellence in teaching economics.
Representatives from Economics Arkansas, including Executive Director Kathleen Lawson and Associate Director Marsha Masters, visited Little Rock Southwest High School on Monday afternoon to present Renitia Bullard with the Bessie B. Moore Teaching Award and a $1,000 check.
The award celebrates teachers "who go above and beyond traditional instruction to design engaging, real-world learning experiences in economics and personal finance," according to a media advisory from Economics Arkansas.
The teachers were selected after submitting projects that demonstrated "innovative approaches" to teaching those subjects, according to the advisory. "These projects highlight teaching methods that spark curiosity, build confidence and strengthen students' financial awareness," the advisory said.
Bullard, who teaches marketing at Southwest, encouraged students to start their own small businesses through her project. She called the project the "Boss Up Shop for Young Entrepreneurs," a spin on the term "pop-up shop," because she wanted to teach her students entrepreneurship skills so they could "become their own bosses."
Students have the opportunity to sell their products or services during Southwest's three school lunches, Bullard said, and get to keep the money they make.
"We teach them how to do a business plan," Bullard said. Students also learn how to advertise, promote and compete with other businesses, she added.
Southwest Principal George Maxey said he thought Bullard's project was "beautiful."
"They're not just learning how to sell items, but they're learning how to build their credit. They're learning how to become productive citizens within society," Maxey said.
He added that students learn that "it takes hard work to be successful."
The Economics Arkansas representatives later visited Little Rock Central High School to present Alundra Dickson with the award.
Dickson's project was titled "Psychonomy: How Mental Health Shapes (and is Shaped by) Economic Forces," according to a project description shared by an Economics Arkansas spokeswoman.
Dickson taught the project in an Advanced Placement Psychology class over a four-week period. The project "examined mental health through an economics lens, challenging students to analyze how psychological well-being functions as both a personal asset and a public good."
Students analyzed how mental health impacts healthcare expenditures, lifetime earnings and other economic indicators, and how economic stressors impact mental health.
"In modern economies, mental health significantly influences labor markets, productivity, healthcare spending, educational attainment, and long-term economic growth," the description read.
Economics Arkansas officials describe the organization as a "private, nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization" founded to promote economic literacy in the state.
The organization's mission, according to officials, is to give prekindergarten through 12th grade schools the resources to "teach economics, personal finance and the free-enterprise system using practical, innovative and inspiring methods," so students can apply what they learn for "success in the free-enterprise system.