Luann Letterle

 Dorseyville Middle High School
 Pittsburgh, PA
 Fox Chapel Area School District
 Matthew Harris, Principal
 Dr. Anne Stephens, Superintendent

 
 2007 Graduate of the Governor’s Institute for Financial Education
 Trish Dalecki, Teacher Mentor
 Ligonier Valley School District

For Luann, the recent financial and economic crises were a call to action.  “Many of my students expressed concern about not being able to manage their own money and how the economy was affecting their families,” said the eighth grade family and consumer sciences teacher and two-time Institute participant.  So, in January, she unveiled a revamped course with a greater focus on personal finance and entrepreneurship.  In addition to lessons on bank transactions, credit and saving, students gain hands-on business skills as they work in teams to develop and market a new product.  This project gets the entire school involved as students pitch their business plans to potential ‘investors’ such as teachers, principals and staff and advertise their products to classmates on the morning announcements.  Luann says the information and encouragement she received at the Institute, along with support from the principal and administration, gave her the confidence to make these bold changes.

 “Middle school students have money to spend and they need to learn how to be informed consumers.  Mrs. Letterle’s rapport with her students, her creative ideas and her commitment to building students’ finance skills make her an outstanding candidate for this award.”