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New Prague honors long-serving board member; seventh-graders present Junior Achievement Finance Park
Summary
The board recognized school board member Denny Hevlichek with an MSBA All-State award and heard seventh graders and teachers describe a Finance Park/BizTown field trip funded by a New Prague Education Foundation grant.
The meeting opened with a Spotlight on Success recognizing school board member Denny Hevlichek as a Minnesota School Boards Association All-State Award winner. Jim Walker, identified as a former New Prague school board member, presented a plaque to Hevlichek. The board noted Hevlichek's long service, including his prior 34-year career as a special education teacher and guidance counselor in Bloomington and leadership roles with Southwest Metro and other regional education groups.
The board also heard a presentation on the district's Junior Achievement Finance Park program (a middle-school version of BizTown). Brad and Mr. Bell introduced the unit, which Miss Anna Borowicz taught in the seventh-grade technology class after the district received a grant from the New Prague Education Foundation to purchase curriculum and run the field trip.
Miss Borowicz and the principals said the program simulated real-life budgeting, saving, taxes, mortgages, investments, and career exploration. Parent volunteers and business sponsors staffed stations at the Finance Park so students could rotate through scenarios matching different family incomes and careers.
Four seventh-grade students described their experiences. Student quotes (verbatim):
- Ava: "I enjoyed, like, getting to learn how, like, the budgeting and stuff works."
- Ingrid: "I liked learning about how to balance my money through all the different things I had to spend my money on."
- Jackson: "I enjoyed, learning how to, like, save your money and not spend it all."
- Max: "One thing that really stuck out to me was how debit and credit works. Buying things on debit to, like, have money to save, but also, like, spend it."
Teachers and principals praised the parent volunteers and the Education Foundation grant that enabled the curriculum and field experience. The board offered applause and congratulated both the honored board member and the students for their presentations.
