LEAD Southeast Students Prepare for Their Futures with Financial Literacy Field Trip
This year, LEAD Southeast Middle School eighth graders have engaged in coursework focused on the essential skills of financial literacy and decision-making. Students have worked to build a foundation to help them make intelligent financial decisions that support their future, including decisions related to income, expenses, savings, and credit.
Teachers sourced lesson materials from JA Finance Park, which is Junior Achievement’s capstone program for personal financial planning and career exploration. The culminating piece of this program is a simulation that requires students to apply the skills they have learned in class around building a budget, learning the difference between wants and needs, credit, investments, taxes, insurance, and more.
As a part of the simulation – which took place on a recent field trip in Nashville – every student was assigned a “life scenario” where they were challenged to make a budget based on their salary, plan for their future, shop for their family’s needs, and more. They were asked to recognize the impact of credit history on budget planning and purchasing options.
“All students were invested in seeing how their life after middle school will look,” said eighth grade math teacher, Peter Mehlrose, who organized and attended the recent field trip. “They were able to start to appreciate the things that they may rarely think about. For example, the cost of childcare or the importance of insurance.”
This trip is directly linked to the LEAD Public Schools mission to prepare all of our students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and in life. “JA Finance gave students the opportunity to explore career options and experience real-life skills such as budgeting and financial planning,” said Brent Harper, an eighth grade social studies teacher and grade-level chair who also attended the field trip.
The trip sparked action and retrospection in our eighth graders: “The one big takeaway I heard a lot of students say was regarding how they need to start saving money or the importance of building a budget,” said Mehlrose. “Students had fun thinking about the connections that they can make between the decisions their caregivers make and their current life.”
Not only did students gain essential practical skills from this simulation – a few specific students also flexed their own language abilities to embody the LEAD Ethos of “serving others” and deepen the experience for all. “We had a bilingual translator who helped make deeper connections for our English learner students, which was my personal highlight,” said Mehlrose. “And one volunteer had to miss at the last minute, so two of our students stepped up to serve and translate!”
“Budgeting and career planning is hard work but they are capable of it! My goal for them is to see that their future is open to so many possibilities and they have access to the tools to make their dreams a reality.” –Peter Mehlrose
LEAD Southeast Middle School students will, without a doubt, be using what they have been learning in math class for years to come. Personal finance is an invaluable life skill that connects to every aspect of students’ futures – and it is vital that we continue to build opportunities like the JA Finance Park simulation as we embark on our mission to prepare students for college and for life.
LEAD Southeast High schoolers also engaged in JA Finance Park this semester. Follow along with us on Instagram to keep up with our students and educators!
