Making dollars make sense

Times Reporter

 

For eight consecutive years volunteers have gone to Crowther Memorial Junior High, CMJH, on the first Wednesday of November. The volunteers go the school as a part of Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta, JASA, and talk to students about personal finance, how to budget their money, how to be money smart; making good decisions with their money, fraud and basic investments. 

“Although I’m sure there are parents who do teach it to their kids, it’s reaching those kids who don’t have the access,” said Wendy Gerbrandt, regional coordinator for Strathmore. 

Gerbrandt has been a part of JASA for approximately two-and-a-half- years and travels anywhere within an hour drive of Strathmore, recruiting volunteers and schools for the programs. 

Junior Achievement has been around for 50 years, and has been teaching business and finance since the beginning, though only fairly recently has Strathmore and area become its own region. Seven classes, all Grade 7 students, at CMJH had a volunteer teach each class about four different lessons and answer questions. The volunteers are like a role model for the few hours in the classroom and give the students their first introduction to the world out there, at least financially. Speaking in front of a group of teenagers can be a daunting task and may scare a few people away from wanting to offer their time. 

“I always say to a volunteer, you’ve got to try it at least two or three times because the first time you’re nervous, you’re not sure what to expect, what’s going to happen in the classroom, how well do you feel you prepared yourself for your material. But if you give yourself the second time, you’ve improved and then by the third time you’re totally ok with going in the classroom,” said Gerbrandt.  

 There are a variety of other programs available on different subjects, which are all delivered to specific age groups, from elementary school to high school, based on how the literature was written. The program literature written about personal finance was geared towards teaching the Grade 7 and 8 students, just like economics for staying in school is geared to the Grade 9 students. 

“We have a real diversity with these kids at Grade 7 levels, there are some out there who already have their own stock portfolios,” said Gerbrandt. 

One of the main reasons JASA offers the programs they do is because they are not taught in the schools. All of their programs are curriculum linked to Alberta Education. It is up to the teacher to register for the programs. If a teacher doesn’t want their students to be a part of it, they don’t have to be. 

“I think once they get past that barrier of knowing what it is and understanding what the program offers and then they get to see where the curriculum links exist then they are pretty excited to have us back in,” said Gerbrandt. “We probably reach in our region about 1,600 students, with the potential to reach more.”

When a school registers for one of the programs, JASA asks for three dates on the registration forms, and then they try to work with the first date the schools want. 

Like many companies, sponsors are a big part of keeping things going and making sure materials are provided. All of the programs offered are free and run through sponsorships.