Learning money management

Justin Seward
Times Contributor

 

Grade 7 students at Crowther Memorial Junior High School learned about managing their money during the annual Dollars with Sense workshop on Nov. 5.
The program, and many others, are offered through Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta (JASA). The programs are taught to Grades 5-12, with a different one being offered for each age group, including learning investment strategies, our business world, economics for success and more.
“These programs are meant for kids in schools now and at young ages. I found out from personal experience, kids get out of school and they have no idea about money management, entrepreneurship skills,” said Tristan Periard, Junior Achievement representative. “They don’t have any idea about money management. So the class we’re doing today is Dollars with Sense, it really teaches the kids how to budget their money and they might not learn these skills anywhere else.”
Periard could not stress enough the importance of educating younger generations with these skills that will be an asset to them in the future.
“It’s so important to have these programs come to the school to teach students, because as they go into the real world, if they don’t know how to budget their money, then they will have a struggling real world experience,” said Periard.
Programs like those offered through Junior Achievement will also help the students as they move on into post-secondary education, and helps them figure out where they can save money, or gives them ideas on how much they will need to work in order to get by.
“It really leads up to them moving out of high school and the skills they need moving out of it,” said Periard.
Anyone wanting more information about JASA and what they offer go to www.southern-alberta.jacan.org.