BEAUMONT, Texas– Education First FCU has donated $15,000 to Lamar University for the construction of a Cardinal NEST at Beaumont Independent School District’s Guess Elementary School.
EFFCU said it has been a proud supporter of both Beaumont Independent School District and the Cardinal NEST program at Lamar University.
Cardinal NESTs (Navigating Excellence Success and Triumph) are innovative, high-tech learning labs for students to engage and explore reading and STEAM. Prior to the sponsorship of the NEST at Guess, Education First FCU also announced a financial literacy collaboration with Lamar University student volunteers (Cardinal SOAR) to incorporate EFFCU’s C.A.F.E Financial Literacy Curriculum into the 10 BISD Cardinal NESTs in spring of 2022.
In 2019, Education First rolled out a financial literacy workbook that mirrors the tenants of their youth savings program, Center for Advanced Financial Achievement. The program, designed to meet Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements for fifth-grade students, has been adopted by BISD, and guides them through various training modules that include saving, spending, budgeting, and vocabulary building. Cardinal SOAR volunteers will help walk students through this workbook utilizing the NESTs in spring of 2022.
"Education is at the heart of who we are here at Education First FCU and is the inspiration for a lot of what we do,” said President/CEO Kevin Conn. “We've been working with Lamar’s Cardinal SOAR on incorporating our C.A.F.E. Financial Literacy program into the NEST curriculum for the spring semester at all BISD elementary campuses. Through this partnership, we've been able to see the work that goes into these NESTs. To say that we are thrilled to sponsor the Cardinal NEST at Guess Elementary is an understatement. Guess Elementary has been an important business partner of ours since 2016, and we're happy to support the campus in whatever capacity we can. We're excited to see this new creative learning space and to continue to support financial literacy in the classroom."