Marine City High School students teach elementary schoolers financial management
Some of East China School's younger pupils are a bit more fiscally savvy thanks to some beans and high school students.
A handful of Marine City High School students spent time with fifth graders at Palms and Belle River elementary schools as part of Teen Teach-In this week. As part of their financial management class, the student passed on their financial knowledge to the elementary schoolers by giving presentations and playing games.
The students went to Palms Elementary on Oct. 10 and Belle River Elementary on Oct. 12.
Laurie Gardner, a Marine City High School teacher, said she likes that her students are essentially giving back to the community by teaching younger students financial management.
"They're sparking an early interest of financial literacy in the younger kids," she said.
At Belle River Elementary School, a few of Gardner's students worked with two fifth grade classes. Senior Tori Simons said she enjoys the financial management class. She said a lot of students are frustrated with not having classes that teaches real-life skills, and that learning financial management will give the students a step ahead in the world.
Simons said teaching the fifth graders was a great experience and will hopefully help them in the future.
"The most important thing is to teach them in a way that they'll enjoy, comprehend, remember and apply these skills," she said.
Senior Lacey Kenyon said teaching the fifth graders was an exciting opportunity. She said she was thrilled and grateful to help teach them financial skills, and she would do again if there was a chance.
Fifth grader Bristol Anderson said learning from the high schoolers was a good experience. She said her favorite activity was the bean game, where dried beans represented money and helped the fifth graders understand budgets.
"It was interesting to see how much it actually costs for some things," Anderson said.
Senior Ezra Rix went to Belle River Elementary School when she was younger and said it was interesting to be back. She said she enjoyed being there because she got to teach the younger kids something she would have liked to have learned at their age.
"They were really good at following along," Rix said. "This was a good experience and not something you get to do every day."
The high school students are learning financial management with the help of the National Jump$tart Coalition, which supports financial education by providing materials that teachers can use to teach financial literacy. CEO Lauren Levine said it's important for students to learn financial management at a young age because everyone deals with financial situations every day, and young people should have the knowledge to manage it.
Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com or (810) 292-0122.
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This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Marine City High School students teach financial management skills
