Students in Donna Shepardson's entrepreneurship class were asked recently to create a project highlighting successful women in business. Among the business women they chose were former brass cover subjects Meg and Dia and Sumaya Kazi. Donna, a teacher at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, NY was kind enough to share photos of her students' work.

The brass|STUDENT PROGRAM is packing its bags and heading to Chicago this week for the annual meeting of the National Business Education Association. Laura Edmonston, the Student Program Director of Education will be exhibiting at the conference from April 8th through the 10th. Stop by Booth 603, talk with Laura and pick up a copy of brass. Plus, teachers can register for the brass|TEACHER RESOURCE CENTER on site.

Does this scenario sound familiar? Your son or daughter is saving to buy that new bike or video game. They notice that the neighbors are all mowing their lawns, it's hot outside and people look thirsty. Your young entrepreneur sees an opportunity and approaches you about setting up a lemonade stand. Great idea! Time to make a check list of what you will need for this operation: Cups, pitcher, table...check. Lemons...check. Water and sugar...check. Sign and pricing guide...check. Business permit...huh? Yes, you heard that correctly.

brass is tracking a major bi-partisan initiative that was introduced earlier this week. The Financial and Economic Literacy Improvement Act is sponsored by Senators Murray (D-Washington); Cochran (R-Mississippi) and Representative McCarthy (D-New York). The goal of the bill is to provide $250 million in grants to states for the purpose of teaching financial literacy in elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools. Money would also be made available for adult education.

Cincinnatus (NY) High School teacher Nicole Rice recently offered to take copies of brass to the Technology and Learning Celebration that was held in New York City earlier this month.

Henry David Thoreau once said that "a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." A number of high school students in Illinois are putting that thought into action by agreeing to give up one thing each month. It started with sugar and fast food and evolved to anything that would end up in a landfill. This month, the challenge is to give up cell phones and texting - which for many is a lifeline.

Education Week reports today that the case for creating a set of national learning standards is "gaining steam" with education associations and state and national policymakers. The creation of a national set of standards is not a new idea, but it seems that this time it might become reality.

April 15th is getting closer, and lessons on taxes are most likely appearing in your plan books. If you are looking for additional ideas and content, brass is here to help. Click here for a list of tax-related articles from brass.

An Oregon teacher has invented a way to help teachers plan digitally, and it's turned into a very lucrative second career. Elmira High School teacher Jeff Hellman is the inventor of Planbook, a software program designed to help teachers throw out their old paper planners. So far, sales of the program are soaring.

We've been keeping a close eye on HR 1 - the $838 billion US economic stimulus bill. Around 12:30 pm (EST) the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 61-37. It now heads back to the House. As you know, this bill has major implications for education funding. How are you and your students tracking HR 1? Are you spending any time as a class having discussions about the bill or even staging a mock debate? Did your class come to a different vote than the Senate?