Beginning in September 2019, the Menifee County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent attended Menifee County High School once per month until March 2020 to teach the Foundations in Personal Finance Curriculum. The interactive, online curriculum was taught to two business classes comprised of 30 sophomores, juniors and seniors. Important topics covered were saving, budgeting, debt, careers and consumer awareness.

Students learned and practiced creating a budget based off of a randomly assigned income and family scenario. All students were able to balance their budget with their income and provide the necessities for their “family”. Additionally, they explored careers and learned about creative ways to pay for necessary training such as college or technical school tuition. A representative from the local community college, Bluegrass Community and Technical School, attended the class as a guest speaker to discuss types of financial aid, with a focus on scholarships and grants. As a final project, the students put on a Reality Store within their classes in preparation to volunteer for the Reality Store that was to be hosted at the middle school (but unfortunately was cancelled due to COVID19 precautions).

The business teacher and high school administration found the Foundation in Personal Finance Curriculum to be extremely valuable in teaching high school students to be financially responsible adults. They have decided to purchase the curriculum for the 2020-2021 school year. Additionally, the teacher reported several students opening up their own savings account at a bank and one student purhasing a car in cash by following the saving principles taught in class.

Students creating a family budget