NGPF Gold Standard teacher Jill Thompson of Casper, WY joined us for a special advocacy episode of the NGPF Podcast this week. Jill was an NGPF Fellow for the 2016-17 School Year. Kelly Walsh High School, where Jill has taught Business for all of her career, is one of the latest additions to the NGPF Gold Standard Schools list from the month of November.

Christian, NGPF’s Advocacy Director, chatted with Jill about how she persevered to ensure that ALL students at Kelly Walsh HS got access to crucial financial education, after several years of the class being a very popular elective.Her story not only inspires but also provides food for thought for educators who are looking to advocate for more comprehensive financial education in their schools, districts and states. It can be done with persistence, tenacity and a little elbow grease. Since her school won the honor, Jill also advocated that the other high schools in her district receive the same distinction, and their banners are now en route!

Details:

• 0:00~1:41 - Introduction
• 1:41~3:51 - What drew Jill to personal finance?
• 3:51~7:06 - Coolest story from the classroom
• 7:06~11:17 - Advocating to make personal finance a requirement
• 11:17~15:43 - Challenges and obstacles faced
• 15:43~19:11 - Advice for other teachers
• 19:11~20:23 - Conclusion

Resources:

• Kelly Walsh Financial Literacy Twitter (@KWfinlit)

Notable Quotes:

• “There’s really nothing better for a teacher than seeing actual positive impacts from the teaching we’re doing everyday.”
• “You get a new story every day...”
• “That’s a yay-hoo!”
• “He came back to my classroom as a senior, and he said, ‘thank you for changing my life.’ ”

Jill happily unfurling the Gold Standard poster:

About the Author

Christian Sherrill

Former teacher, forever financial education nerd. As NGPF's Director of Growth & Advocacy, Christian is laser-focused on our mission to guarantee all students a rigorous personal finance course before crossing the high school graduation stage. Having paid down over $40k in student loans in the span of 3 years - while living in the Bay Area on an entry level teacher's salary - he's eager to help the next generation avoid financial pitfalls one semester at a time.