Middlesex County Chamber: Chelsea Groton Bank Hosted 15th Annual Money Madness Seminar For Over 125 Local High School Students

Press release from the Middlesex County Chamber:

March 16, 2021

GROTON, Conn. – Chelsea Groton pivoted to turn their annual Money Madness one-day seminar for hundreds of area high school students into a week-long virtual experience. Five area schools participated: Fitch High School, Griswold High School, Ledyard High School, Montville High School, and Norwich Free Academy.
 
For 15 years, Chelsea Groton's Community Education Office has hosted Money Madness, a day for local students to come together to hear inspiring stories from area business owners, government leaders, community organizers and educators. The students also participate in break-out sessions and play games in an exhibit hall in order to learn about personal finance and how to prepare for the real world. 
 
This year, to accommodate mandates for social distancing and the hybrid schedules at many area schools, Miria Gray, Chelsea Groton Bank’s Community Education Officer, developed a whole week of online programming for students to attend each morning.
 
On Monday and Tuesday, representatives from Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) spoke to the students about the importance of credit and budgeting during separate Zoom sessions.
 
On Wednesday, students visited the Bank’s website to view videos on a variety of topics that would have been discussed during the in-person Exhibit Hall. Featured videos included advice for buying your first car (Disch Car Sales), renting an apartment (Rose City Real Estate), car and renter’s insurance (The D'Errico Agency), consumer scams (Better Business Bureau CT), banking (Chelsea Groton Bank), and the importance of saving (UCONN Extension/CT Saves). Students were invited to participate in an online trivia game for the chance to show off their learnings and win prizes.
 
On Thursday, students attended a webinar on Identity Theft, presented by Kathleen Titsworth from the CT Department of Banking. The week concluded on Friday morning, when Gray led the students in an interactive activity to understand the real costs of college.
 
"Many of the topics we cover at Money Madness may not be included in standard school curriculum, but they are critical to be aware of before beginning to make monetary decisions as young adults,” explained Gray. "We’re really pleased that despite the challenging circumstances we’ve all endured over the last year, we were able to collaborate with educators at area schools to bring this important programming to their students. After all, the students at our local high schools are the future of our region.”
 
To learn more about Chelsea Groton Bank’s Chelsea University, register for complimentary programming, or visit the E-learning Center, please visit www.chelseagroton.com/ChelseaUniversity.
 
About Chelsea Groton Bank
Based in Groton, Conn., Chelsea Groton Bank is a full-service mutually owned bank with over $1.4 billion in assets. Chelsea Groton Bank’s products and services include consumer banking, business banking, mortgage and business lending, cash management, financial planning and financial education programming. With 14 branch locations throughout New London County and a Loan Production Office in Hartford County, Chelsea Groton Bank also provides online and mobile banking, 24-hour telephone banking, and nationwide ATM banking for individuals, families and businesses. To learn more, please visit chelseagroton.com. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NMLS Institution ID 402928

This press release was produced by the Middlesex County Chamber. The views expressed here are the author’s own.