Can you answer these questions…

  • Why does a $2.60 gallon of crude oil cost $3.20 at the pump?
  • Why do grocery stores only make 2% or less of your total grocery bill?
  • What are human, capital and natural resources?
  • What are scarcity and opportunity cost?

Fortunately, because of Shenandoah Valley Economic Education, Inc. (SVEE) students can answer these and many other questions about money and business. This has an impact on your future…

Why SVEE is so important

In 1972, Harold Durrett and economics teacher Elizabeth Allebaugh (now Elizabeth Volard), frustrated by the lack of understanding of our free enterprise system, recognized the need for basic economic education in our schools. They, with the help of Zane Showker and Chip Strickler,  along with local businessmen and the Chamber of Commerce, formed FREEA (which incorporated as SVEE in 1981) to address this problem.  They pioneered the model of hiring a certified teacher consultant to teach teachers how to teach economics in the classroom.  James Madison University joined in this venture by bringing an economics professor to work with the program and providing office space and administrative support.

In the early 1990s, Virginia imposed a set of mandates called Standards of Learning (SOL’s) in an attempt to address shortfalls in K-12 education.  As a result of these new requirements, SVEE’s role of teaching teachers became even more crucial because they were totally unprepared to tackle economics components of the standards.

SVEE meets today’s challenges with a full-time teacher consultant, group workshops, and individualized training including the use of nationally recognized learning tools such as The Stock Market Game and the Mini-Society.  This approach has proven successful year after year and has, in fact, become a model for Virginia and the rest of the country.

More than a quarter million students have been reached by SVEE’s programming and its reputation has been well established.  Now it is time for us to meet the future challenge of sustaining and advancing SVEE’s mission into the future with your investment. We urge you to stand up and make your commitment to the future generations of community leaders, consumers and wage earners. With your help, SVEE will continue to prepare our local teachers to successfully teach economics to area students.

Stand up for Economic Education: contact us for the full story, and to join us in enhancing the economic education of our children — and the economic development of our community!

Shenandoah Valley Economic Education
238 Campbell St.
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
540-568-3244