Nebraska teachers earn national certification in personal finance

            The Nebraska Council of Economic Education, a nonprofit entity housed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Business Administration, rolled out the red carpet for 28 Nebraska secondary and post-secondary teachers at the 2012 Personal Finance Institute July 24-26 at Wayne State College.

            The goal of the institute is to better prepare educators who teach personal finance. Participants earned college graduate credit for their work in developing or revising an existing Personal Finance course for implementation at their high school or community college. All of the teachers successfully passed the nationally recognized Financial Literacy Certification Exam, titled W!SE (Working in Support of Education).

            In addition to intense classroom instruction, participants heard from guest financial speakers and experienced successful local entrepreneurial endeavors as they toured Heritage Industries and Heritage Homes.

            Teachers received graduate credit from either UNL or Wayne State. Tammie Fischer of UNL and Patricia Arneson of Wayne State joined Sherry Roberts from Middle Tennessee State University and Mike Casey from the University of Central Arkansas as institute instructors. Guest speakers included Rhonda Heineman, CFP, of Heineman Financial Strategies of Omaha; David Wilhelm, finance instructor for the Academy of Finance at Metropolitan Community College, Omaha; and representatives from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and its Omaha branch.

            Sponsors included Partnerships for Innovation, Nebraska Council on Economic Education, Centris Federal Credit Union and the Nebraska Department of Education. For additional information about the Nebraska Council on Economic Education, contact Jennifer Davidson, director of programs and community development at 402-472-2333 or by email, or visit the council's website, www.nebraskacouncil.org.

            Participating teachers at the institute included:

            Bellevue: Robin Kratina (Bellevue West High School).

            Central City: Brittany Davidson (Central City High School).

            Genoa: Betty Shanle (Twin River Public School).

            Imperial: Sandy O’Neil (Chase County Schools).

            Kearney: Gary Stubbs (Kearney High School).

            Lincoln: Carol Andringa (Lincoln Public Schools), Dani Fusco (Pound Middle School), Josh Hinrichs (Southwest High School), Julie Hippen (Southeast High School), Lori Leudtke (Park Middle School), Doug Miller (Southeast High School), Pam Sutton (Lincoln Christian School), Deb Wolken (Northeast High School).

            Milford: Kathleen Reiter (Southeast Community College).

            North Platte: Berva Arensdorf (Mid-Plains Community College), Cynthia Elliott (North Platte High School).

            Oakland: Cindy Dahlquist (Oakland-Craig Public Schools).

            Oxford: Taffy Lewis (Southern Valley Schools).

            Pleasanton: Jacquelyn Garrison (Pleasanton Public School).

            Sargent: Jan Osborn (Sargent High School).

            South Sioux City: Christina Carothers (South Sioux City High School).

            Springfield: Jim Jennings and Teresa Starks (Springfield Platteview High School).

            Utica: Leah McClure (Centennial High School).

            Valley: Kate Carlson (Douglas County West High School).

            Wayne: Kenneth Newcomb (Wayne State College), Annette Rasmussen (Wayne High School).

            West Point: Laura Newton (Central Catholic High School).