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A group of students prepared a financial literacy presentation for a citywide convention on Dec. 10 at Fort Mason Center.
Junior Elizabeth Chen and seniors Erina Alejo and Gordon Li created a workshop to teach students important financial information for a project in the Mods 19-20 Peer Resources class. The group taught the presentation to the other students in the class over the course of two weeks. After showing it to teens at the annual Peer Resources convention, the class is currently presenting it to classrooms throughout the school. The convention workshop used a carousel format, where Peer Resources teams taught different topics at various stations to circulating attendees.
According to sophomore Amber Morgan, the workshop’s financial topics include current economic issues, money spent on college and free and cheap resources, such as free museums and thrift stores. One station was a financial literacy definition matching game. Another was a budget exercise that covered topics such as saving money for prom. Sophomore Stephanie Hui reported benefiting most from information about college grants and financial aid. Describing her research, “I was most surprised by the unemployment rates and poverty levels that I found,” Morgan said.
Feedback about the presentation was mainly positive. Teens were amazed at the information and learned new skills for handling their money concerns, while adults were glad that young people were learning financial information early, according to Peer Resources teacher Adee Horn.
Teachers can request the workshop for their classrooms through the end of the school year. So far, orchestra teacher Michele Winter and English teachers Winifred Lo and Elizabeth Zamboldi have requested classroom presentations this semester.
Horn stressed that financial literacy will be useful for students. “We’re teaching teens important things to know about finances to help them as teens and in the future,” she said. “The earlier young people learn this information, the better. If they aren’t exposed to it now, then they could find themselves in credit card debt in the future, which would affect their credit scores and their abilities to lend and borrow money.”
The conference is designed to be student-run. “The point of Peer Resources is peers being resources to each other,” Horn said. “The presentation was taught by students because kids listen better to other kids than they do to adults.”
The annual citywide Peer Resources convention was created for high school students to teach each other about topical teen issues, such as stress and diversity. Each Peer Resources class in each school chooses a different topic to cover; the Mods 19-20 class picked financial literacy, while the 16-17 class covered stress. Fourteen students presented at the convention. “The Peer Resources students learned leadership and research skills by teaching the workshop to other teens,” Horn said.
Two hundred and fifty students attended the convention this year. All of the students from the school’s four Peer Resources classes were strongly encouraged to attend. Horn believes that they all benefited from the experience.
Horn was satisfied with the convention. “It ran very smoothly,” she said. “There were interesting speakers. I liked that the convention brought peer programs from the city together. It showed kids at Lowell that they are part of something bigger.” |
