BT’s financial literacy activities pay dividends

Spearheading the founding of Bishop Tonnos’ Finance Club represents the beginning of financial literacy integration throughout the BT school community. The inspiration for the group was sparked at the DECA Provincial Case Competition in 2017. While I was proud to represent my school provincially, I found that my team’s level of preparedness paled in comparison to that of the victorious competitors from other schools. I quickly noticed that their exposure to extra-curricular business opportunities and financial literacy education far surpassed that of my classmates, and it dawned on me that I could help expand the opportunity set of BT’s business students. I thought the creation of a Finance Club would increase our school’s competitiveness provincially and internationally, while providing students with the basic knowledge required to excel in a business-oriented environment.

I spent my summer brainstorming the mandate of the group, researching the finance industry broadly, and gauging industry professionals’ thoughts on the most beneficial content to learn as an aspiring business student. The Club faced several administrative obstacles before becoming ratified. After rigorous planning and the formulation of an intricate proposal to school administration, the school board’s first Finance Club was officially established on September 19, 2017.

After recruiting an executive team, we devised a two-fold mission: to educate prospective business students on financial analysis and investing, and to educate all students to enhance basic financial literacy. In order to assess current conditions of the school we put out a sample survey. Results indicated that 69.9% of students did not know what financial literacy even is, while 81% agreed upon the importance of learning about personal finance and that they wished to see an increase in financial education. This is when we truly knew that now is the time for an impactful change through advocacy of financial education. To begin, I conducted Weekly Lessons outlining stock market basics and current macroeconomic trends. To supplement this, we held an Investment Tutorial with the Queen’s University Investment Counsel to introduce students to value investing and frameworks for security analysis. To fulfill our second mandate, we held an in-class Junior Financial Literacy Seminar where over 300 students were granted the opportunity to learn about the important personal finance topics of spending, saving, budgeting and investing. Additionally, we ambitiously planned a school-wide assembly focused on financial literacy, the first in our school’s history, considering the topic is seemingly overlooked in our board’s taught curriculum. After lobbying administration and preparing content for the event, we hosted both a presentation by the Finance Club and a keynote speech from Steve Levine of Funny Money. He integrated key financial literacy concepts into a fun, interactive presentation that helped raise awareness among over 1,300 students.

Moving forward, the Club is currently hosting a Virtual Investment Competition, allowing students to apply their newfound knowledge of investing and financial literacy in an engaging and competitive way. Our goal is to further integrate the Finance Club’s mandate of educating all students about the importance of financial literacy and analysis, regardless of their interest in business, as I feel that this is a crucial skillset that will allow all to live more informed and prosperous lives. The success of Finance Club brings me tremendous pride because of the success it has proven with the sample survey results. The second sample survey indicated a 53% increase of financial literacy comprehension amongst students, while 81% expressed they noticed an increase in financial education throughout the school. I identified a need that I was passionate about addressing, and am proud of the change I enacted to help satisfy this need for students. I look forward to continuing to hone my financial acumen and helping those in my school and city to do the same.