Sharktown citizens earn pay like Mom and Dad in Port Lavaca
HJM Elementary School second-grader turned postmaster Keegan Brumfield takes her job seriously and considers reading others mail a major offense
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VISIT SHARKTOWN
What: Sharktown Micro-Community Grand Opening
Where: HJM Elementary School, 605 N. Commerce St.
When: 8 a.m. Monday.
Speakers: Superintendent Larry Nichols, Port Lavaca Mayor Jack Whitlow, State Sen. Glenn Hegar, State Rep. Todd Hunter
RSVP to Annette Alonzo ...
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VISIT SHARKTOWN
What: Sharktown Micro-Community Grand Opening
Where: HJM Elementary School, 605 N. Commerce St.
When: 8 a.m. Monday.
Speakers: Superintendent Larry Nichols, Port Lavaca Mayor Jack Whitlow, State Sen. Glenn Hegar, State Rep. Todd Hunter
RSVP to Annette Alonzo at aalonzo@ibc.com or Rachel Bonus at rachelbonuz@ibc.com or 361-553-4208
PORT LAVACA - Nathan Valadez proclaimed he would one day be mayor of this town as he mimed blowing two smoking guns.
Valadez is a student at HJM Elementary, but he doubles as the finance director of Sharktown.
Sharktown is actually a town within the school, and it's run totally by students. The town even has its own form of currency: sand dollars.
Students earn their pay based on good attendance and behavior at school as well as holding jobs within the Sharktown community.
"They understand the importance of a job, to be here everyday and to get a paycheck just like mom and dad," Vice Principal Alice Van Borssum said.
The goal in the short term is to motivate the children to come to class on time and perform well. The long-term goal? Preparing them for the future, Principal Pam Weathersby said.
"You have a lot of kids who get out of high school who don't know how to balance a checkbook," Weathersby said. "They don't understand what it takes to live."
A few of the real world skills the students at HJM Elementary are honing include saving money, writing letters, interviewing for jobs, balancing a checkbook, paying taxes and paying utility bills.
The school hooked up with IBC Bank, who sponsors a similar program in McAllen. The programs are called micro-communities, and each one has its own stores and institutions.
In Sharktown, there is an IBC Bank, a Walmart, H-E-B, the IRS, a post office and newspaper.
The Walmart is staffed with a manager, assistant manager, stockers and cashiers.
The IRS, of course, has tax collectors who collect fines from students who don't pay their taxes.
The post office is an inner-school system that delivers not only personal letters but the students' bills, too.
Bankers at IBC are responsible for keeping records of the amount of money each student has. The students, like anyone with a bank account, go to the bank and deposit their hard-earned sand dollars.
Fifth-grader Dylan Morish is vice president of Sharktown's IBC Bank.
"It gets you ready for writing real letters or paying a bank," Morish said about Sharktown. "And it's just a lot of fun. It'll prepare you for real life."
Although Sharktown has been up and running since November of last year, it will have its grand opening Monday.
"There's a buzz about the school," Weathersby said. "Everyone's excited about Monday. We have all these important people coming, and we're all nervous. But it's going to go great."
The students were all eager for the grand opening. Each student who held a major position, such as the mayor and city manager, wrote notes on index cards to prepare for their speeches.
