Date: Monday, May 23, 2011
Time: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Place: Snohomish High School, 1316 Fifth Street, Snohomish, WA
Imagine seeing the U.S. national debt, represented by more than 14,300 pennies, sprawled across a student cafeteria floor. That is just what Snohomish High School DECA students plan to do on Monday, May 23.
On Monday, May 23, Snohomish High School DECA students will create a “graph” made of pennies on the cafeteria floor. The “graph” will represent the U.S. national debt, which today is more than $14.3 trillion. With each penny representing $1 billion, more than 14,300 pennies will be carefully displayed on the school’s cafeteria floor. The pennies, which will also be color-coded to represent the countries that own the U.S. debt, will cover an 56-square foot area. A second “graph” made up of more than 3,600 pennies will be created to represent the annual $3.6 trillion U.S. budget.
DECA students came up with the idea to display the debt as a penny “graph” in the student cafeteria after learning about the national economy in their Advanced Marketing class. Prior to the class, most students said they had a vague understanding of the issue. They believe the majority of their friends and family also have little understanding of the debt and its impact.
“It didn’t take us long to understand it’s not sweet talk. We’re mad about the debt and want to raise awareness. It’s a threat to our future… it’s a national security risk,” the students noted.
The students intentionally chose the cafeteria as their point of display. Their purpose was to “get into the way of the students’ comfort zone,” in the same way the national debt is impacting American daily lives.
“It’s time to wake up from the comfortable clouds we are living in and realize the higher we go, the more the fall is going to hurt,” said Mayra Araujo, a Snohomish High School senior and a student coordinator of the project. “We cannot put the blame just on the government. We must take responsibility as well for not demanding our leaders take action.”
From 2000-2007, the U.S. debt has grown nearly 50%. Each U.S. taxpayer “owes” nearly $130,000 to pay off that amount. What the DECA group realizes, and they believe others do not, is that if the government does not change its spending habits, the national debt will increase to $22 trillion by 2015 (www.usdebtclock.org). The “baby boomer” generation will retire, and the money the U.S. has set aside to fund Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will have vanished. The money to pay off the dept will be placed upon the students and others who are part of the “Y Generation.”