Benton, Sebastian county teachers win economics awards

Five Arkansas educators received teaching awards at a luncheon hosted by Economics Arkansas at the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock on Wednesday.

Four of these teachers, all of whom were from Benton and Sebastian counties, were honored with the Bessie B. Moore awards for excellence in economic and personal finance education during the 2018-19 school year, according to an Economics Arkansas news release.

They each received a $1,000 cash award and a copy of “The Bessie,” a 7-inch statue created on a 3-D printer by the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.

The winners and their projects:

• Amy Mileham, “Truckin’ Through Economics,” Grace Hill Elementary School, Rogers School District.

• Anna Badders, “The Lemonade Stand Hangout,” Grace Hill Elementary School, Rogers School District.

• Amy Nicole Gordon, “Cupid’s Creations,” Barling Elementary School, Fort Smith

School District.

• Valarie Harp, “P.I.E.S., Primary Investigators Economics Style,” Hackett Elementary School, Hackett School District.

When accepting her award, the release stated Mileham said Badders had been her fifth-grade student years prior.

In addition, Sheila Humphrey, a now retired teacher at J.P. Woods Elementary School in Fort Smith, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in economic and personal finance education during her almost 30-year career in the elementary school classroom, according to the release.

The release said Economics Arkansas, through the Arkansas Council on Economic Education, is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization founded in 1962 by Arch Ford, with Bessie B. Moore as its first executive director, to promote economic literacy in Arkansas.

The organization launched the Bessie B. Moore Awards program in 1995 to honor exemplary teachers for successfully integrating economic principles into the classroom.