Kim Clemons, a 4th and 5th grade CREATE teacher from Jeff Davis Elementary School, has been awarded the Best Practices in Economic Education Award by the Mississippi Council on Economic Education.

She will be honored at the 7th Annual U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise in Jackson on Tuesday, Nov. 2. She taught financial literacy lessons titled "Once Upon a Dime," "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" and "I Have Human Capital" to students who are intellectually gifted.

"The major outcomes of my best practices were that one of my Jeff Davis Elementary teams won the Fall Elementary Division of the Mississippi Stock Market Game and one of my Stock Market Game team captains won the Merrill Lynch Young Entrepreneur Award," Clemons said. In addition, Ms. Clemons had the 3rd place team in the Stock Market Game from Beauvoir Elementary in the Spring Elementary Division. "I took the money I won for their success and purchased each of them a $50 I-bond to start their own investment portfolios," Clemons said.

"Kim Clemons is a wonderful teacher that recognizes the importance of preparing students to address the most relevant topic in our nation today – the economy," said Selena Swartzfager, president of the Mississippi Council on Economic Education. "She is a wonderful leader in the education community. I hope that her colleagues will look at what she is implementing in her classroom and use it as a model in teaching their own students."

The prize is $500 made possible by the Council for Economic Education through funding from an Excellence in Economic Education grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement and from funds provided by the Mississippi Council on Economic Education.

The purposes of the Best Practices Award Program are to recognize outstanding educators who effectively teach economic education principles; to reward improvement in economic education teaching practices; to encourage educators to develop descriptions of their successful teaching practices; and to encourage replication of successful teaching by fostering a widening and continuing exchange of ideas in economic education among educators throughout Mississippi in every level of education.

Added Swartzfager: "Being a Best Practices Economics Education Winner reflects a teacher’s ability to effectively teach basic economic concepts, principles and understandings. Students involved in these projects not only show cognitive growth but also experience many exciting and interesting activities they will long remember."

Photo: To see Kim Clemons and her winning Jeff Davis stock team from back in February, click here.

School board: To see the agenda for this evening's school board meeting, click here.

O.S. photos: To see photographs from the Ocean Springs pep rally and football game and the Biloxi Invitational Track Meet, click here.