Who are the Children of Currency?
For those of us who toil to bring you updated news from the currency industry, we give little if any thought to the people from outside our little world. When they peer in at us through a window like Counting On Currency, what do they see? Is our world interesting, boring, full of opportunity or resting in regal twilight?If, like us you believe that hard currency will persist as a ubiquitous and highly accepted form of payment for many decades to come, how do the young entrants to our industry decide to join our ranks? Various conversations with other industry professionals at recent conferences have followed a similar theme. How many young people do you meet who are working in our industry? Where does new, enthusiastic and motivated young talent come from? How can we cultivate that raw enthusiasm into an opportunity for a young individual to develop a meaningful career?
Where are the Children of Currency?
Girl at the table counts money
Those are lofty questions. They are questions we typically contemplate only at times suitable to philosophic reflection. Given the realities of every day work-life and home-life however, they are not questions that get much frequent attention.
It is therefore notable that a recent email we received from a volunteer at The Brenham Community Center in Texas had a profound impact on the editors of Counting On Currency. From what we have been told, Denise (the aforementioned volunteer) has been working with a group of children on a project about coin collecting and the history of money. In their on-line investigations they stumbled across our little website and found some information there that proved useful in their final project submission. In particular, a project team member named Cara found some similar information that she thought might be of interest to us (and you, by extension).
Children (6-12) at lemonade stall, girl (5-7) putting money in bag
Specifically Cara found a good article on The History of Money that effectively summarized both the economic and physical attributes of money and more specifically banknotes and coins. She asked Denise to forward it to us, together with a description of their project. We were humbled to learn of this project and our inadvertent contribution. In additon, we were encouraged for the future professionals to find their home in this industry. Perhaps one of the project team fromBrenham Community Center in Texas will become the next brilliant leader, innovator or disruptor to rise in the currency industry.
