• Inspiring Educator: Ami Amero (WCSH6) [Editor’s note: You can listen to Ami’s story on this NGPF podcast]

This week’s Maine Education Association Inspiring Educator is Ami Amero. Amero has been teaching history at Forest Hills Consolidated School in Jackman for the last 20 years. During her time there, she started a personal finance class to help students with real life finance after graduation. That class is now a requirement for all Forest Hill students to graduate. Amero is now asking local representatives to draft legislation to have the personal finance course a statewide requirement for all high school graduates.

• Twin Falls High School personal finance class learns about home buying (KMVT11.com)

Lorraine Rapp’s personal finance class went to an open house Thursday and visited with two real estate agents and a mortgage loan officer. The real estate agents gave them a tour and provided information on the property. The students got to ask questions about types of loans, down payments, interest rates, and credit. In return, they got advice on what they can do now to be prepared to make those purchases. Rapp says she wants her students to leave high school with solid financial skills, and they agree.

• Financial Literacy: Avoid The Daily Struggle, Become Educated (Daily Miner)

Rodney Cody, business teacher at Lee Williams High School, drives home important money principles for students in his personal finance classes, many of whom are seniors ready to enter the workforce. Americans have a huge problem with debt and money management, as evidenced by the rise in personal bankruptcies, he noted. “Students need to learn ahead of time not to get into that position as they get started in their new world,” Cody said Wednesday during a break between classes. “A lot of them are going to be kicked out of the house and need to know this stuff.”

Personal finance counts as a math class at Lee Williams with word problems directed at financial literacy, like how much tax you’ll pay on a paycheck with and without overtime. Students also look at housing costs, automobile payments and investment strategies.

• Prairie Ridge High School entrepreneurs prepare their pitches for business incubator course (mySuburbanLife.com)

You could almost hear the ka-chinking of money and the clicking of online shoppers whispering through the business incubator lab of Prairie Ridge High School on Thursday afternoon. The school’s first INCubator Edu course, aimed at teaching students entrepreneurship by having them team up to fully develop their own product or service, is wrapping up for the school year. Five of the 10 student groups will be chosen to pitch their business proposal to the public, and perhaps potential investors.

• Two Colorado youth honored for volunteerism at national award ceremony in Washington, D.C. (PR Newswire)

Emma, a member of Girl Scouts of Colorado and a senior at Ralston Valley High School, is working to improve financial literacy education to ensure that students in her school district and ultimately her entire state are prepared to make sound financial decisions when they graduate. The idea hit Emma one summer when she was working at a summer job, shopping for her first car, and looking at college tuitions. “I was dealing with larger sums of money than ever before and I realized I didn’t know anything about using it wisely,” she said. After discussing with her parents such foreign concepts as credit scores, loans, budgeting and taxes, Emma decided she and her peers needed help.

• Ontario Grade 10 students start lessons in money and career skills (The Globe and Mail)

Allegra Fiorino laughs when asked if she was ever taught financial literacy at her Toronto high school. “I can confidently say that, no, I never was,” says the 18-year-old University of Toronto student. “I don’t even know what it is.” Ms. Fiorino says the math questions in the curriculum were all about how fast planes were going – “problems you had to solve. There was nothing about mortgages. Or buying a car,” she says. “They’re not explaining how [someone] buys a house.”

About the Author

Laura Matchett

After graduating with an education degree and spending 7 years in an elementary classroom, Laura made the switch to the non-profit world and loves interacting with students, educators and business professionals across the country. She is passionate about all students having access to high quality education and views personal finance education as one way to ‘level the playing field’. When Laura is not locating or creating high quality educational resources, you can find her mountain biking or searching for the best ramen in town!