At Breakwater, we believe financial education is one of the most important factors in building a strong financial future. That’s why we’re passionate about bringing fun, engaging, and practical financial education into the communities we serve.
From classroom visits and Financial Reality Fairs for teens to finance themed-Bingo nights for adults, our goal is to make financial education approachable, accessible, and relevant for neighbors of all ages and stages of life.
Financial education looks a little different for every audience, and that’s part of the fun! We work with schools, businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations to create engaging programs that fit the age, interests, and learning goals of each group.
From early elementary through high school and beyond, our classroom visits are tailored to each group based on grade level, age, and curriculum. Whether students are learning the basics of saving and spending, exploring credit, building a budget, or just starting to count and identify money, we’ll work with educators to create an engaging lesson that meets them at their level and complements what they’re already learning in the classroom.
Financial Reality Fairs give high school students a hands-on look at what it takes to manage money in the real world. During this immersive simulation, students begin by choosing a career, receive an income based on their choice, and are assigned a randomly generated credit score and financial portfolio. They then rotate through a series of stations where they make every day financial decisions about housing, food, transportation, and other essential and nonessential expenses.
Along the way, students experience how their choices impact their overall budget and learn to balance needs, wants, and unexpected expenses. It’s an engaging, interactive way to practice budgeting, financial decision-making, and other real-world money skills before they move on to the next chapter of their lives after graduation.
Contact us today to bring a Financial Reality Fair to your school this year!
Inspired by the popular television show Shark Tank, Pike Tank brings entrepreneurship to life for Copper Country ISD CTE Business and Entrepreneurship students. Made possible through a collaboration between the Copper Country ISD, Breakwater Federal Credit Union, the Michigan Small Business Development Center, and Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe Community College, this unique experience gave students the opportunity to apply the business skills they learned in the classroom in a memorable and exciting way.
What started as a simple business pitch competition slowly transformed into a much more involved semester-long project, where students helped organizers shape the event from the ground up. This included working with local professionals to learn about and establish event branding, draft press releases, and building the event agenda.
On the day of the event, students listened to keynote speakers and spent the morning rotating between the Pike Tank Business Pitch Competition and Breakwater’s Entrepreneurship Simulation. During the pitch competition, student teams presented their business concepts to a panel of local judges, while the Entrepreneurship Simulation challenged students to make real-world decisions about starting and operating a business.
Students selected a business venture and were given a starting budget before making their way through stations representing different aspects of running a business, including marketing, inventory, staffing, and more. Each decision came with a cost and directly impacted their quarterly revenue, challenging students to think strategically about where to invest their money, manage expenses, and ultimately determine whether their business would turn a profit.
The hands-on learning continued in the afternoon with Business Support Bingo, an interactive activity designed to introduce students to the network of local resources available to help entrepreneurs succeed. Instead of simply hearing about these organizations, students had the opportunity to connect with local professionals, learn about the different types of support they provide, and discover where they could turn for guidance throughout different stages of starting and growing a business.
The day concluded with the final Pike Tank Business Pitch Competition, where the top teams from the morning sessions returned to the stage to pitch their ideas one last time and compete for prizes.
Have an idea? Let’s bring it to life!
If your school or organization is interested in collaborating on a special project or event, we’re always excited to put on our thinking caps and help! We’re passionate about working with community partners to develop creative hands-on educational experiences that are relevant to your audience and make a lasting impact.
Who says learning about money can’t be fun?! Breakwater offers Financial Jeopardy, Bingo, trivia, and other interactive games to make financial education engaging and fun. From Money on Tap: Bingo by the Buoyard for adults to Money Matters for Kids, we’ve found that a little friendly competition can make financial topics more approachable for just about any audience.
Our games can be adapted for different ages, financial topics, classroom curriculum, or community events. Whether you’re looking to reinforce a specific lesson, introduce a new topic, or simply get people talking and thinking about money, we can tailor the experience to fit your group.
It’s never too early to start learning about money! Our Money Storytimes introduce young children to basic financial concepts through age-appropriate books, conversations, and activities designed to make learning fun. Using stories like the Moneybunny book series, we explore topics like earning, saving, spending, and giving in a way that is easy for little learners to understand.
Storytimes can also be a great opportunity to involve parents and caregivers in the conversation. A child’s early experiences with money can help shape their financial behaviors for years to come. During our Storytime sessions, we provide resources for adults with tips and simple ideas for continuing the conversation and teaching money skills at home.
Money Storytimes are a great fit for libraries, elementary classrooms, early childhood programs, and other youth-focused events and can be adapted to fit different ages and learning goals.
Looking for an engaging speaker for your next Lunch & Learn, staff meeting, or community gathering? Breakwater can provide practical financial education presentations tailored to the interests and needs of your audience.
From fraud and scam prevention to budgeting, credit, or financial wellness for your employees, we can tailor presentations to focus on the topics that are most relevant to your group. Whether we’re joining an existing Lunch & Learn series or presenting to a group of employees, members, or community partners, our goal is to make financial topics approachable, useful, and easy to apply in everyday life.
Ready to bring financial literacy to life for your students, employees, or community? Contact Kayleigh White at kayleigh.white@breakwaterfcu.org or call 906-482-5005.
