Houston Rockets player Jeremy Lin joined NBA Hall-of-Famer Calvin Murphy on Wednesday afternoon to conduct a motivational event for 400 students at the Harmony School of Ingenuity.

Murphy, energetic and fun to watch, led the rally by first playing letter games with the students. Kids were having so much fun that loud cheers erupted in the school gymnasium constantly. Some athletes performed spectacular break dancing for the kids, while Lin gave a shooting demonstration.

Overall, 60 students from the school completed the Save Smart Score Big Financial Literacy Program and were lucky to receive their certificates from Lin and Murphy and pose for photos with them.

This is the second year that the Rockets have teamed up with East West Bank to present the "Save Smart, Score Big" program, which is a four hour course taught by the bank executives to 60 students from the 6th grade at the school. It was designed to be interactive and fun, yet adhere to fundamental math to teach kids money concepts and the hidden danger of credit. The kids are from low socio-economic neighborhoods and might not otherwise have the chance to be exposed to such money principles.

Emily Wang, senior vice-president and director of marketing and community development for East West Bank, said: "For youngsters, how to manage personal finance may be a distant concept - how to deposit, how to save, how to plan - they need to learn. We designed the course to teach kids the concept of saving and how to balance income and expense. This is very important and I believe they have learned the basic concepts through our program."

East West Bank's sponsorship with the Rockets is entering its second year and jointly they have already conducted numerous community programs. According to Wang, Jeremy Lin has been their event champion for many occasions.

Talking about his involvement, Jeremy Lin said that saving is an important concept and kids need to learn that early on. "You never know what will happen and it's always a good idea to have some backup," he told them.

Last season, East West Bank, which has a business focus in the US and greater China, conducted a similar program at McGregor Elementary School. The bank extended the partnership by donating $12,000 to build a technology center which was dedicated in November 2013.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com