In typical Colorado fashion this time of year we toggle between snow mounds and the calling of sun-rays ...and this keeps teaching interesting at the Teen Center!
The 'Girls in Finance' class has been a challenging one. First, this session was short and as you can imagine there are a lot of important issues to cover on this topic. Good thing we are going to extend this class into next session. Secondly, how does one get Middle School ladies interested in Finance topics, at 5pm in the afternoon!? By keep up the momentum and using real-life examples like shopping, and how does one get that cool car, or pay for college!Keeping that momentum going in-between snow-day cancellations and the call of a summer-like afternoon has been tough.
So, Lizzeth and I got creative and did our last class in the park, on one of the sunny days. The lesson included role playing! Each girl had a financial scenario she had to read and present to the class. Each scenario included a different way to obtain financing for a desired product/service. Each had its own interest rate range, length of repayment and other terms. We identified the different risks and benefits between between each option like: pay-day loans, school loans, credit cards, and home/auto loans. I saw the girls' jaws dropping when they realized the differences in interest rates between the pay-day loan and a Federal school loan. I knew the basics were clicking even if there were minor distractions like fresh spring wind, sunshine, and of course boys in the park as well ("Oh no! Is there grass on my pants!").
These basic FINANCIAL understandings will follow them to their next lessons on the subject, and they'll definitely have something to add to the discussion. It will also resonate the first time each utilizes one of the many financing systems that exist!
Do you remember the first time you began to understand interest rates and financing, etc? Do you even understand them now?!?
Well, HERE'S TO today's sunshine and low interest rates! Who knows how long they'll last!?
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