About the Program

SENCA SMART is a financial literacy program presented to area school students in the eighth and twelfth grade. The program consists of a poverty simulation and classroom sessions. The sessions utilize the Wells Fargo Hands on Banking curriculum which meets the Nebraska State Standards of Education. The classes are presented in 4 to 5 classroom sessions by trained SENCA staff. The classes focus on the areas of Checking and Savings, Budgeting (creating a personal spending plan), Credit (understanding what credit is and its personal impact), and the importance of Education and how it affects jobs and earning capacity. Participating schools have the option of utilizing one or all sections of the program.

Counties Served
Cass / Johnson / Nemaha / Otoe / Pawnee / Richardson

Contact Person
Susan Keholm

Contact Email
skeholm@senca.org

Contact Phone
402-862-5883

Testimonials

“SENCA SMART is an amazing program that shows all students what help is out there for families that find themselves in financial hardship.

This helps our low income students know how to help their families and helps our average and high income students know how to help their friends and classmates that may be in a financial hardship.

We never know what situation we will find ourselves in someday so for all of our students to learn about the programs available is invaluable.”

— Dawn Bickford, Weeping Water High School Guidance Counselor

“I believe this program is a valuable experience; there are plenty of other financial literacy programs out there that can teach kids how to budget for rent, groceries, and utilities before paying for leisure and entertainment, but most programs don’t teach kids how to work through scenarios in which they might not have enough to pay for both rent and groceries. 

Those types of scenarios are a reality for many families in our community, and it was a reality my family faced when I was in school. I’m so grateful that SENCA offers this program in our schools and allows community members to get involved.”

— Kaylie Ratcliffe, Officer and Branch Manager, American National Bank (Falls City & Humboldt)