BLHS students address Rotary Club

How is your financial literacy?

The Bellefontaine Rotary Club meeting held in-person at BUILD Cowork + Space featured guest speakers Lois Stoll from Benjamin Logan High School and students Makenna Straker and Andrew Hughes. Mrs. Stoll is the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher. She is retiring at the end of the school year.

During the Rotary presentation it was shared that only seven states in the nation require a personal finance course during a student’s education. Financial literacy is currently an elective in most schools. To earn a diploma from Benjamin Logan High School, students must meet complete 1 Credit of Career Readiness (Financial Literacy). The course covers topics in order of needs after you enter the job market such as taxes, checking, savings, paying for college, types of credit and managing credit, investing, insurance, and budgeting. In this required junior-level course, students also develop effective learning strategies and skills to provide a strong foundation for successful lifelong learning and transitioning out of high school, a critical life skill. Throughout the course, students research careers and occupations, review post secondary admissions qualifications, build resumes, complete top-notch job applications, develop interviewing skills and participate in internships. Opportunities for involvement in FCCLA and service learning are an integral part of this class.

Under current law, the manner in which financial literacy instruction is integrated into a district or school’s curriculum is a local decision. S.B. 1 would require all students graduating from high school in Ohio to have a one semester course in personal finance (not Economics).

Mrs. Stoll uses a variety of resources to help students learn financial lessons including the Mimic Personal Finance simulation sponsored by the United Way of Logan County and the Logan County Education Foundation, the Next Gen Personal Finance Curriculum, Arcade style games, MOVE activities, and the Everfi Financial Literacy program sponsored by Liberty National Bank. Everfi is utilized as a reinforcement tool to cement learning. Scholarships are available to seniors who are Everfi Certified.

Students are exposed to financial literacy through a fully-embedded personal finance curriculum following the Next Gen Personal Finance course outline. Students scoring above the state cut score on the Webxam end-of-course exam have the opportunity to earn 3 technical credits (CTAG credit) which can transfer to public colleges and universities.

More information about S.B. 1 can be found here https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/download?key=15511&format=pdf.