ĠEMMA in collaboration with HSBC Malta has announced the winners of the Skolasajf Earth Hero on a budget competition, which saw over 2,000 children in 327 Skolasajf teams create Superhero costumes with a budget of just €1.50.
The winning group from the Żejtun Skolasajf Centre was called Ninja Timmy, and its members were Giuseppe Duca, Kayne Muscat, Joel Farrugia, and Kimberly Fiott.
The competition was divided into two parts; the first part introduced the children to budgeting in a fun way. They learnt about different rules on how to save, and the difference between a ‘need’ and a ‘want’. The children were then challenged to put together a costume representing an Earth Hero, using recyclable material brought in from home. The educators of the programme saw the children employ a lot of creativity, together with plenty of recycled bottles and caps, cardboard, and paper, to create their costumes.
During a prize giving ceremony at HSBC’s Head Office in Valletta, two more teams were rewarded for their creative costumes. These runners up were Money Makers from Luqa where the team was made up of Luca Farrugia Galea, Andrea Sacco and Maya Caruana, and Super Girl from Gudja whose members were Christa Abdilla and Adelide Desira Glenn Bugeja, Manager Corporate Sustainability at HSBC Malta said, “The HSBC Malta Foundation has been supporting Skolasajf and ĠEMMA, which aims to improve financial literacy, for many years. Bringing the two together to create a competition that not only incentivises creativity, but also teaches great skills about recycling and budgeting, has been a very rewarding experience.”
Petra Ellul Mercer, Projects Developer at ĠEMMA, said, “At ĠEMMA our aim is to educate and support people, of all ages, on how to manage their money successfully. The younger the age group, the more impact we will have in developing the knowledge and skills that drive better lives. In delivering our programmes we find continuous support from the HSBC Malta Foundation which, over many years, has played a vital role in enabling us to reach many more people than would otherwise have been the case.”
Justin Balzan, Programme Coordinator at the Foundation for Educational Services, said, “The Earth Heroes initiative was certainly very popular among the children attending Skolasajf this year. Not only was it great fun, but it also helped to develop key life skills, not just around budgeting but also teamwork. Congratulations to everyone who took part, but especially to the groups from Żejtun, Luqa and Gudja who created some very impressive costumes.”
Photo: Winners of Skolasajf Earth Heros on a Budget
