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Hazen students teach lessons about big-budget decisions ...

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May 1, 2013

By Christina Corrales-Toy

By Christina Corrales-Toy
Hazen High School sophomore Shiva Prasad (center) is surrounded by Nelsen Middle School students as they make real-world financial decisions during a simulation that teaches kids about budgeting.

Adulthood comes with its perks, including a long-awaited sense of freedom, but it also brings to light the inevitable financial, familial and personal responsibilities that go with it.

As everyone matures through life, they are undoubtedly saddled with a multitude of decisions, including whether or not to buy a home, which health care provider is best for their family and determining what auto insurance is best for the family car.

Members of the Hazen High School DECA chapter had the opportunity to guide more than 80 Nelsen Middle School students through these very real financial responsibilities when they visited the Junior Achievement Finance Park in Auburn on April 3.

In the daylong simulation, each middle school student was assigned a card that outlined his or her life situations for the day. One student could be a 32-year-old, single mother earning $23,000 a year working in a retail store, while yet another could be a 35-year-old CEO of a bank.

Based on the parameters of their salaries, occupations and family arrangements, students had to decide how they would pay the bills, and they found out it wasn?t so easy.

?I hear a lot of them saying, ?Oh, now I know what it?s like to be an adult,? or ?Now, I know when I ask my mom for something at the store, why I?m being told I can?t have that,?? Nelsen Middle School teacher Allison Matthews said. ?They?re getting an idea of how money works, and they?re also really starting to connect it to their own life.?

By Christina Corrales-Toy
Hazen High School junior Daniel Snitkovskiy (right) helps a Nelsen Middle School student decide whether he should invest in the stock market during a simulation that teaches kids about budgeting at the Junior Achievement Finance Park in Auburn.

The Hazen DECA students assisted the Nelsen students at every turn, directly applying the principles of budgeting and investment that are taught in the high school business classes.

?For us, it really teaches that leadership ability,? Hazen junior William Hancock said. ?We also get the chance to apply what we?re learning at Hazen and pass it on to the middle schoolers.?

Many of the Hazen students said they wished they had the chance to go through the beneficial exercise when they were in middle school.

?Looking back to when I was in middle school, I thought money was just something you spend and it had kind of a never-ending cycle, but as I grew up, I figured out what money really is,? Hancock said. ?It?s something that you work for, and you save up to build a better future for yourself.?

The partnership among Hazen, Nelsen and Junior Achievement allows students to get exposed to the realities of financial planning at a younger age, said Ray McCabe, Hazen?s DECA advisor and a marketing teacher at the school.

The process is a fun and interactive one as students travel around the Finance Park visiting the Quadrant Homes kiosk to pick out their new house, or the Russell Investments and U.S. Bank stock exchange to check on their portfolio.

The main takeaway from the event, though, is the importance of education as students work to achieve their career and personal goals, McCabe said.

?That?s why school matters, so that you can get the career that you want and lead the life you desire,? he said. ?That?s the value of an exercise like this, to give them that practical knowledge.?

Written by Christina Corrales-Toy ? Filed Under Schools?