Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Students learn about finances during fair
Downingtown students experience lessons about budgeting
DOWNINGTOWN » The Downingtown Area School District held its first Financial Reality Fair as part of a national program by America’s Credit Unions to help teach financial literacy to high school students.
The goal of the event was to give students a hands-on experience in purchasing goods and services. Each student was given a worksheet listing a career, salary and credit card.
After first paying their taxes, health insurance and contributing to their retirement plan, students visited more than a dozen tables staffed by area experts and volunteers offering items such as insurance, clothing, housing, cellphones, food and furniture. Before sitting down to add up the total cost of their purchases, each student needed to spin the “Wheel of Reality” containing some of life’s sudden unplanned expenses such as a medical emergency, flat tire or a wedding gift purchase.
“I think it is instructive for high school students to learn how to do this,” said Peter Bokovitz, a Downingtown West 11thgrade student, who attended the event. “It will help us become independent quicker.”
John Kebles, a REAL Solutions Program manager with the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, helped set up the Downingtown event with the Downingtown High School Business Department.
“This program is a win-win situation for students, schools and the community,” he said. “If we increase the financial awareness of just 10 percent of these students, we’ve done our job for the day.”
His sentiments were echoed by Chris Woods, vice president of public relations for TruMark Financial Credit Union.
“Teaching financial literacy to students is a necessity that not only benefits the students but the entire community,” Woods said. “We are so pleased to be able to offer this experience to students before they go out into
the world on their own.”
Once their “purchases” were added up, students could quickly see whether they had budgeted wisely or needed to return to a table to take out a loan or downsize one or more of their original purchases. Students also recommended some updates to the organizers, suggesting they should add rideshare programs such as Uber and Lyft to the choices for transportation.
Business students from all three Downingtown’s high schools, and a group of students from the West Chester Area School District attended the fair, which was held in the Downingtown West High School gymnasium. TruMark Financial Credit Union sponsored the fair.