Meet the 9-year-old Miami student who won $1,000 for her financial literacy

At age 9, Zoë Madison Orndorff already has an entrepreneurial spirit. She’s co-written two books with her mother and sells jewelry and pet rocks at the Palmetto Bay Artisan and Farmer’s Market.

And now she is one of three Miami-area students to win OneUnited Bank’s Financial Literacy Essay and Art Contest. Now in its 15th year, the contest awards students with $1,000 toward a savings account after reading a book about financial literacy and writing an essay. Along with Orndorff, who attends Airbase K-8 Learning Center in Homestead, the other winners this year are Andrew Elus, 12, and, Jalonie Lue Shue, 11, who also wrote essays on financial literacy.

Orndorff is already thinking long-term about her plans for her $1,000: “I want to get more money from the interest for college and a car,” she said.

Teri Williams, OneUnited Bank president and CEO, said the Black-owned bank created the contest after she visited elementary schools to talk about financial literacy and noticed that children were not knowledgeable about money management. She also realized many books didn’t cater to students who lived in urban areas.

“Most of the books about money for children were about lemonade stands in front of white picket fences in the suburbs,” she said. “So we were trying to figure out a way to state the educational process for our community in the schools.”

It led Williams to write the book “I Got Bank: What My Granddad Taught Me About Money,” as away of teaching youth about money management. To participate in the contest, children had to read a book about financial literacy, be it Williams’ or another book, and write an essay about how the information could help them and their families throughout their financial journeys.

The essays provided a snapshot of what the children and their families are experiencing with their finances, said Williams. “We saw more discussion about how kids could use money to help their family with necessities, rent, groceries and the day-to-day cost of living that you know their family is either struggling with or going through,” Williams said. “There does seem to be an undercurrent of financial stress that our kids are feeling.”

In her essay, Orndorff wrote that she learned about bank accounts and credits scores and how they affect your ability to get an account and interest rates on loans. Orndorff’s mother Nia Madison learned about the contest through her Jack and Jill chapter, and urged her daughter to apply for the contest to learn more about saving money, adding that this is her child’s first time having a bank account of any kind. Madison said she’d been open with her daughter about her own finances in order to better educate her on money management.

“The cost of living is increasing year by year, and I want her to at least be able to live the quality of life that we currently live, if not even better,” Madison said. “That requires me to inform her about inflation, interest, investments and savings.”

Williams said what stood out to her about Orndorff’s essay was that she’d learn something and applied it to her life. Teaching financial literacy has become increasingly important since the contest initiated 15 years ago, said Williams. Now many states, including Florida, introduce financial literacy classes into their curriculums.

Williams also said families’ relationship with money and the conversations they’re having with their children about it has changed in more recent years. “It has become accepted that we need to teach our kids about money. There’s no argument there anymore.”