7th “Valores de Futuro” (Future Values) – community solidarity, innovation and involvement
The national winner of the 7th Valores de Futuro (BBVA’s financial education program for elementary school students) has been announced: the 6th grade class at CEIP Guillermo Romero de Córdoba. As it happened with many of the submissions this year, the winning project shows marked solidarity, ability to engage and mobilize and innovation.
Winners for the second consecutive year, the students at this school had very clear goals. Firstly, they wished to help the victims of the earthquake in Ecuador. They were especially aware of this tragedy because the family of one of their teachers lives in the affected area. Secondly, they wanted to achieve something that may seem simple but is an accomplishment for them: to have a day out together, outside their school hours.
To meet these challenges, the students formed a cooperative and dealt with terms such as a request for a loan. Also, they released a mobile app to publicize their project and engage local companies and the school community. The proceedings of their savings plan have been divided between Ecuador (55%) and their day out (45%).
The winning project is a very good reflection of the solidarity values that have been common throughout the contest and can be found in the jury’s selections for special mentions. One of these winners is a school in Valladolid that wishes to cooperate with two shelters in the Dominican Republic; the second special mention is for a school in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and their project to help a school for children with disabilities. In the primary school category, seven winners have been selected, one winner per BBVA Regional Division. They will receive 2000 euros.
This year, students have shown that they are aware of the risks involved in the activities they are planning and have been able to assess them. They also showed perseverance when their initiatives did not go according to plan and they had to rethink their strategy. Their efforts have been rewarded with greater learning.
The school community has been even more involved than in previous years. “We always have the collaboration of the children’s parents and teachers who gave us all sorts of objects and went to the markets and helped us turn these initiatives into a success,” explained Josefa Marcos, a teacher at San Vicente Ferrer de Murcia, in the Valores de Futuro blog.
In total, more than one million students from 5177 schools in Spain participated in this year’s edition of the contest. With the support of 600 BBVA volunteers, savings campaigns and workshops were arranged in more than 400 schools. Students were able to develop their financial knowledge and grow their sense of responsibility, hard work and solidarity.