Middle School Students Learn Bitcoin Lessons – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Ryan Brisch, Anthony Feliciano, and Mark Maraia, who recently spent a few weeks helping 85 middle school students run a pop-up store running on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
On November 18, 2022, approximately 85 students braved a cold and snowy Friday morning at STRIVE Prep – Lake Middle School in Denver, Colorado to participate in a unique program. Although they got a late start due to snowfall the night before, there was eager anticipation in the air.
Ryan Brisch, a Denver Bitcoiner, had often talked to his significant other about problems that Bitcoin could help solve, or a new Bitcoin product he was excited about. His wife, Nicole, is a sixth-grade math teacher at STRIVE Prep and had started responding that he would come and talk to her class about some of the basic mathematical foundations of Bitcoin.
In October, Nicole Brisch talked about an enrichment class led by her colleague, Rawa Abu Alsamah, who worked with an outside group, We Thrive. We Thrive offers entrepreneurial apprenticeships where young people start their own businesses, earn real income and receive mentorship. Alsamah’s seventh- and eighth-grade students created their own businesses through the guidance of We Thrive and were set to sell their products at a pop-up market later in the month.
When he heard about this incident, Brisch’s first question was: ”Do you think they would be interested in being able to buy and sell their products in bitcoin?
From there, the idea was in motion and Brisch reached out to his local Bitcoin Telegram group for the content experts that would be needed to make the idea work. Anthony Feliciano and Mark Maraia quickly volunteered not only their expertise in money, Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, but also their time, energy and effort. Over the next three weeks, Brisch, Feliciano and Maraia met, talked and quickly worked out a plan of action. Maraia would teach the children about money, and Bitcoin and Feliciano would focus on the use of the Muun wallet and the Lightning Network.
The first week’s presentation was focused on getting the students to think about money, how it worked, who currently controlled it and then asking them how it could be different and how the Bitcoin network and money system worked. It ended with a little homework: downloading the Muun wallet. The next week, the morning of the pop-up shop, the three men were back at the school, handing out stakes collected during the previous week and showing students how to create and pay invoices. Needless to say, the digitally native students took to Muun wallet and instant payments like fish to water!
On the cold and snowy morning, dozens of student vendors arrived before the pop-up event so they could learn how to receive rates as payment for their product or service from other students. The plan was for these students to use the Lightning Network exclusively, which meant that the student entrepreneurs had to know how to create an invoice.
These student entrepreneurs received $5 to start the day and were encouraged to tell the other students that they would accept payment in installments. Within a few minutes, each student had learned the basics of the wallet and went to their booth armed with the knowledge of how to accept bitcoin as payment for their product or service. (The previous week they had raised roughly $500 in bitcoin as seed capital for this event with the support of a generous group of Rocky Mountain Bitcoiners.)
Earlier that morning, these young entrepreneurs had set up their booth in the school gym with signage advertising their product/service and a price list offering a wide variety of items such as homemade cupcakes, cakes, waffles and other handmade items as well as services such as neck shaving and shoe shine.
The event began with students downloading Muun wallet and learning how to create invoices. Then all students were asked to create Lightning invoices to receive $5 worth of stakes as they headed down to the pop-up shop in the gymnasium. Just over 80 students and a couple of teachers were loaded with effort to use. Some of the boldest students came back to reload after they had used their first stakes. It was truly a sight to see, just a few hours earlier the students downloaded Muun. Soon, merchants were creating invoices for goods, children were running around doing transactions, and through all the excitement you could hear merchants shouting “I accept bitcoin!”
The level of enthusiasm the students showed to learn how to send and receive rate was inspiring and would make any Bitcoiner optimistic about our future. The event was a great success, with many of the students thanking our local Bitcoiners for their lessons and efforts. The students, being digital natives, were able to understand how to use the technology with incredible ease. They were all told about the importance of remembering their four-digit code and using the security features to back up and restore their Muun wallet as needed. This began their first, tentative step towards owning a form of property with a level of responsibility that no one had ever known.
By the end of the event, the most diligent providers had more than 180,000 bet in their wallets and a growing awareness that this new type of money was opportunity.
Our local Bitcoiners also took the time to educate some of the teachers on how to download a wallet and receive rate. After receiving a quote on her Muun wallet, a teacher was impressed by the idea that she didn’t need to provide a phone number, address or social security number, and that it didn’t require permission from a bank or government. All it takes is a phone and an internet connection to send money to someone on the other side of the world.
And as our local bitcoiners left the event, there were many shouts of thanks as they exited with confidence that the rabbit hole was approaching for a new crop of bitcoiners. At least one group of seventh and eighth graders was much more curious about Bitcoin.
The only thing that can top that feeling is seeing another million Bitcoiners march into a local school near them and do something similar. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Brisch.
This is a guest post by Ryan Brisch, Anthony Feliciano and Mark Maraia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
