Teaching the value of money

Times Reporter 

 

This year marks 11 years that volunteers have been going to Crowther Memorial Junior High School (CMJHS) to teach students about finances. The volunteers go as part of Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta talking to the kids about personal finance, how to budget their money, protecting themselves against fraud, and basic investments. 

This year volunteers also went to speak with Trinity Christian Academy (TCA) and Holy Cross Collegiate (HCC) students. 

At CMJHS over 200 students in Grade 7 took part in the Dollars and Sense program on Nov. 6. Sixty Grade 9 students at HCC were taught Economics for Success on Nov. 19, and 19 Grade 7, 8 and 9 students at TCA were also taught Dollars with Sense. Students at Standard School took part in the Dollars and Sense program on Dec. 12. 

“For the most part it is really positive, it is real life so they can relate to it, it actually sparked some great conversations this year about being responsible citizens and even how the media plays a role in it,” said Grade 7 CMJHS teacher Jennifer Bakken.

She said the program really gets the students talking and sharing their experiences, if they have jobs, what they do to earn money, how they save, things like that. She finds the program to be a positive experience that the school will continue to take part of into the future. Four CMJHS students shared their thoughts on the program. 

“I thought it was a very good way to spend our time, I learned a lot of stuff,” said Blake Sander.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to have especially when you have your own bank account right now and just to save and spend and just to be smart about it,” said Hailey Sutherland. 

“I like it because it was a great life skill, what I learned was that when you buy a TV and it says you don’t have to pay for the first 10 months or whatever it really can end up costing you more money than it would have in the first place,” said Metaya Anderson. 

“It was pretty good, most of the stuff I did know but I learned more information about it,” said Kennedy Shiner. 

One of the things she learned was about credit cards and bank accounts; she distrusted them before taking part in the program, but said the program has shown her they aren’t all that bad. 

One activity for the group was a menu for pizza and soda and trying to figure out how to have enough for everyone, without spending all of their money. 

At Holy Cross, things were a little different with the Economics for Success class. Chris Rebeyka and Raeanne Pettifer spoke about their thoughts on the program. 

One of the things they learned was how to manage a budget. They also learned about different wages and the amount of time in school that would be needed to get some of those higher paying jobs. 

“I really liked it, it was a lot of fun and it taught you a lot. Most people don’t realize how many things you have to pay for in a month,” said Pettifer. 

“I was spending a lot more than I was making, I was like $500 over budget,” said Rebeyka.  

Each student had to fill a chart and a number under each category about how much you would spend on your apartment, travelling, food and so on per month. They then drew jobs out of an envelope, it was in the format of a paycheque, and it listed their job and how much money they got. 

“I didn’t make very much so it was kind of hard to meet my budget,” said Rebeyka, who drew a salesman position at Enterprise. 

Pettifer lucked out as a legal assistant splitting rent with another girl, whereas Rebeyka lived alone. Pettifer and her ‘roommate’ put $600 into savings and still had about $130 left over at the end of the month. 

The students and their volunteers talked about income tax, minimum wages, RRSPs, and the difference between net and gross pay. 

“It was really eye opening to see that you’re not going to be making a lot of money or become a millionaire the first year you’re out of school, or you’re not really going to be saving a lot because there are so many things that your money goes into once you make it,” said Rebeyka.

“It was good to see it now so it’s not such a huge shock in a couple of years when we actually do realize how much it is to live not with your parents.” 

He found that no matter how well you save or how wisely you spend it, there are always going to be things you have to spend it on. 

“You kind of got to realize what your parents do every month and it makes you a lot more grateful for it,” said Pettifer. 

“I think everybody will use it once they get out of high school or if they move out while in high school.”