Morehead State alumna Lexie Butler Centers (09) earned the distinction of Financial Literacy Educator of the Month in October 2020 for her efforts to teach money management skills to her students at Gregg Middle School in Summerville, South Carolina.
The award was presented to Centers by the South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program. The program provides incentives to K-12 teachers who are experts in financial literacy and have a desire to teach professional development workshops to other educators in their schools and districts. Through the program, participating teachers have access to specialized training and financial literacy curriculum resources to promote financial literacy education in K-12 schools better. South Carolina State Auditor Curtis Loftis started the program in 2018.
“We originally started financial literacy in the seventh grade to supplement the seventh-grade math standards which include percentages, interest rates and other rate of change math problems. We thought that adding a course that would coincide with social studies and math would be a great elective for students,” Centers said. “Giving students a ‘hook’ for learning math is always a plus! Every kid on the planet needs to understand real-world math, and I feel like it is such an important skill set and the sooner we start the education, the better. Middle school has been a great place to introduce many of the concepts I teach.”
Centers earned her master’s degree in teaching from MSU in 2006 and her RANK-I certification in 2009. She is a third-generation teacher and a third-generation MSU graduate. Her grandparents, Raymond Butler and Lexie Holton Butler, both attended MSU, as did her mother, Mary Lois Manley Butler (85). Her husband Jeffrey Centers (95) also attended MSU, graduating with a business degree.
“It fills me with pride being a third-generation teacher and attending the same college as my grandparents and mother…but honestly, God made me a teacher,” she said. “I love being a part of the Morehead family. I grew up in Ashland attending camps at Morehead, watched my mom graduate from Morehead and now am married to a Morehead graduate as well. It is an honor to be a Morehead Eagle.”
She added studying at MSU has given her the tools to have a career she’s passionate about.
“Morehead was just an equipping toolbox for my passion, education. I use the tools I learned in the classroom at Morehead every single day in my classroom. And as education is evolving through this pandemic, we are having to dig deep in our toolbox to adapt and pivot! I can’t help but think that education is going to be better on the other side,” Centers said. “I loved the community of people who get life in Eastern Kentucky, love education and the lifelong learning that occurs there, and the support you get.”
For more information about education programs at MSU, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/education, email Dr. Antony Norman, dean of the Volgenau College of Education at adnorman@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2162.
