Florida Fifth Graders Go on a P/C Insurance Tour

During a recent field trip to The Main Street America Group’s corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla., more than 60 fifth graders from Jacksonville’s Woodland Acres Elementary School learned the basics of the property/casualty insurance, as well as what opportunities may lie ahead if they stay focused on doing well in school and want to pursue a career in the insurance field.

This event is part of a partnership Main Street America has established with the University of North Florida’s (UNF) Urban Schools program that supports public schools throughout Duval County, Fla. Through this program, Main Street America “adopted” Woodland Acres in 2009.

“This was much more than just a field trip to Main Street America’s office,” said Christie Stevenson, UNF residential clinical faculty at Woodland Acres Elementary School. “This experience has the potential to change the course of some our students’ lives by broadening their vision of what their futures could look like.

“As one student said after just being at Main Street America for a few minutes, ‘I want to work here when I graduate (college). Even if I could only work here for one day, I want to work here.'”

During their visit to Main Street America, the Woodland Acres students learned what the company does on a daily basis. The field trip included an office tour and brief, interactive presentations by members of the company’s information technology, product, claims and underwriting teams.

“Our students were treated as intelligent, inquisitive young students and they rose to those expectations,” said Stevenson.

Since forming its relationship with Woodland Acres, the insurer said several of its employees have volunteered to tutor at the Arlington-area school. The company has also held multiple school supply drives and supported other on-site programs in conjunction with UNF.

The Main Street America Group operates six property/casualty insurance carriers. With nearly $900 million in premium written by 2,000-plus independent insurance agents, the company insures more than 600,000 policyholders in 27 states and writes bonds in 44 states.

Topics Florida Property Casualty