Lori
Lori Conte has been teaching financial literacy to students at Pompton Lakes High school in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey since it became a state-mandated graduation requirement in 2010. Lori and her former supervisor Trudy Philippon were instrumental in implementing the program that now teaches about 300 freshmen students per year.
Basic financial literacy concepts are covered in class, such as banking, credit, identity theft and insurance. Lori uses a variety of resources, including Practical Money Skills lesson plans and games. Another favorite is Acellus, an online learning program. "It's a great supplement for classes because of its videos," she says. "If students miss class, they can watch the lesson at home in video form."
One of the most successful financial literacy activities offered to students was Budgeting Day. The first of its kind to be hosted in New Jersey, Budgeting Day allowed hundreds of students to participate in various money management exercises. "I had invited a representative from First Jersey Credit Union to speak in class and she said they would be willing to work with us to create a budgeting fair," explains Lori. "Together, we came up with the idea of Budgeting Day." Volunteers from the credit union set up tables in the school cafeteria, each dedicated to a different budgeting scenario. For example, one table required students to budget for car expenses such as the down payment, insurance and maintenance costs. There were other tables for groceries, pet ownership and clothing. Budgeting Day was aired on ABC Channel 7 News, which interviewed Lori, her colleague Carol Helm and the school Principal, and was covered by NorthJersey.com. Since then, Lori has kept her students up-to-date about current trends and banking information by staying in touch with investment representatives and bank employees and inviting them to speak in class.
One of her greatest challenges in making financial literacy interesting to high school students revolves around their limited life experience. "Because this class is primarily offered to freshmen, most of my students don't have jobs. They don't understand firsthand the concept of money." Despite this challenge, Lori tries to instill in them the importance of saving and paying yourself first.
"I've had many students come back after graduation to let me know how valuable their financial literacy class was," says Lori about the success of her class. One student even got a job at a local bank, which has turned into a career for her. But the success of Lori's class is also quantifiable – according to her annual student growth objective assessment, more than 85% of her students pass tests with 75% or better at the end of the year.
Lori practices good finance in her own life by always keeping good credit, budgeting and protecting herself from identity theft. She's open and honest with telling her students about her personal experiences with money. Additionally, she would like to expand her lesson on online banking, since youth are increasingly using their mobile phones to manage their money.
Practical Money Skills would like to commend Lori Conte for her ongoing efforts and commitment to financial literacy at Pompton Lakes High School in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.
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