Meet StEP: Real Money Lessons, Starting in Elementary School
The Susan Sargen Student Enterprise Program (StEP) is a nationally recognized program that turns everyday classroom moments into a financial education. Students earn StEP bucks for good attendance, good behavior, and strong classroom performance. Then comes the real lesson: deciding what to do with what they’ve earned.
At quarterly StEP stores, kids can spend their StEP bucks on school supplies or toys. Or they can save, and earn interest on their balance. Or they can donate their StEP bucks to a cause their school has chosen. Each choice teaches something different: the value of earning, the discipline of saving, and the impact of giving.
The results back up the approach. Schools using StEP report increased attendance, stronger engagement, higher self-esteem, and improved academic achievement. Teachers report feeling more effective in the classroom too. By connecting good habits to real financial decisions, StEP gives kids a practical, early foundation in critical thinking and financial responsibility, skills they’ll carry well beyond elementary school.
Current StEP Volunteer Information
Meet Market Madness: Where Classrooms Become Businesses
Every spring, Market Madness turns classrooms into real businesses. Students develop a product, build a marketing plan, and map out a sales strategy, working through the same decisions any entrepreneur faces before opening day.
Then it’s showtime. The first week of May, students bring their businesses to Fifth Third, where they take turns buying and selling with each other. It’s a hands-on crash course in entrepreneurship: pricing, promotion, customer service, and the reality of running a business from the ground up.
Photos from Market Madness 2026
Here’s a look at the excitement that is Market Madness! More than 1,100 Tristate students join us for the event, the culmination of an exercise in entrepreneurship as part of our Susan Sargen Student Enterprise Program (StEP). The kids formed classroom businesses, deciding on product lines and marketing strategies, and interviewing for leadership roles in their companies. Then they produced hundreds of items to sell to peers at Market Madness, which we staged at Fifth Third Arena, on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Our volunteers also took the students on a tour of UC’s campus; it’s the first time many of these students have ever visited a university.
News Coverage of Market Madness from WLWT
Thank You To Our Generous MARKET MADNESS Sponsor, Sycamore Capital!
