Mason Hall is not your typical 11-year-old enjoying the summer before entering sixth grade next month. He’s also a skilled artist who has been honored as the first-ever winner of the Finance Authority of Maine’s (FAME) “Design Your Dream Money Contest.”
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| Mason Hall, 11, who will be a sixth-grade student this fall at Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond, shows off his winning design of a $500 bill as the first-ever winner of Finance Authority of Maine's (FAME) 'Design Your Dream Money Contest.' PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
Hall was a student in Lynne Latham’s fifth-grade classroom at Jordan-Small Middle School this past spring and he joined his classmates in learning about basic financial education, capped off by the students entering FAME’s “Design Your Dream Money Contest.”
He started his design work during school hours and then took it home to finish it. While at home, Hall added specific elements related to Maine to his $500 bill design including the ocean, a harbor, farms, the Maine countryside, and lobster boats with a village situated in the middle.
Between working on it in class and later at home, Hall says that he spent about an hour and a half working on his design for a $500 bill.
"I showed it to my mom who is a teacher, and she thought it was really good,” he said. “My classmates told me I did a good job too when I showed it to them.”
The design was submitted in April and Mason said that he forgot all about it.
But on Memorial Day Weekend in May, school administrators received a phone call informing them that Mason was the winner of the statewide contest.
“My teacher announced it to our class in early June,” he said. “I never had any expectation to win. I just did it because it was something that our class was doing.”
During a school assembly before classes let out for the summer in June, Jordan-Small Middle School students cheered when Hall was announced as this year’s “Design Your Dream Money” contest winner. His parents were thrilled to learn he had won too.
“When it comes to money skills, parents and caregivers are the most important influence in a child’s life,” said Mary Dyer, FAME’s Financial Education Programs Manager. “Our goal is to make teaching about money fun and easy, and we have created a variety of programs that do just that. Through Invest in ME Reads, families will find extensive games, activities, and conversation starters to help them begin the money conversation at home. The ‘Design Your Dream Money Contest’ is just another way to inspire young people to learn about money and to dream about their future.”
For his winning design, Hall received an Amazon gift card and a box of prizes including a T-shirt with his $500 bill design printed on it.
“I was really surprised by winning,” he said. “I truly felt like I accomplished something.”
Despite being recognized for his artistic design, Hall says art and drawing is just a hobby for him and he thinks of it as merely a way to pass time when he’s not doing something else. He says he likes art and plans to take the subject when he goes to high school, but other topics also interest him.
He participates in school in track and field, cross country and lacrosse and he also helps at his father’s business when he can.
“When I finish school, I want to own my own business someday,” Hall said. “I want to own a septic tank company because they make a lot of money. Or maybe own a landscaping business.”
Hall thinks he won the “Design Your Dream Money Contest” because of one thing he always tries to do, no matter what he is involved with.
“I pay attention to detail,” he said. “I think I won because I tried hard, paid attention to detail and thought about it when I worked on it at home. The aspects of Maine pointed out the differences between our state and other places. Maine is our state, and people should take pride in it.” <
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