Teresa
Teresa Cassin's job was in jeopardy, and she never saw it coming. She was a vice president in the casualty department of a major insurance firm where she supervised risk management programs for Fortune 500 companies. Her career at the company began early when she was a work–study student in college, and she always believed she would be with the company "for life."
When a surprising corporate acquisition placed a severance package and a life decision in her lap, she took a professional leap. Following in family footsteps, she thought she'd try her hand at teaching.
"What I wanted to do was basically take my old career and my new career and blend the two together," says Cassin. Her drive to combine business with education has inspired her work today at Egg Harbor Township High School where she teaches accounting and classes called, "Real World Finance" and "Computer Workplace Readiness." Her courses focus on budgeting, check writing, understanding paychecks, bill paying and learning workplace skills such as how to integrate finances with computer technology.
When it comes to money, Cassin is an adamant believer in the connection between conceptual classroom theory and the reality of "real world" application. To learn more about financial literacy, Cassin also attended the Foundations of Finance Summer Workshop for high school teachers at the Federal Reserve of New York.
She uses the Practical Money Skills for Life curriculum in her classroom, and students play Financial Football. "We love the model. The challenge and the competitiveness of playing each other," she says. Cassin's goal is to make her financial lessons practical and hands–on, not simply abstract.
So, when her students enter her classroom, they literally "clock in." Cassin's is a living model workplace where the students adopt a professional business acumen. Inspiration for her program is drawn from the Disney Pixar movie, Monsters, Inc.
"The kids have to apply for a job as a monster," she says. Since few of the high school freshman students had significant work experience, but needed to learn the basics of resume writing, Cassin devised the idea of "monster resumes."
"They were so creative," Cassin says and explains that students also earn "Monster Dollars" for every five minutes of class time. They use their paychecks to buy candy and manage class accounts from which they pay for utilities and other bills. If they're late for class or "work," they lose an hour of pay. Each month Cassin gives the kids a monthly bank statement. "Some kids say, 'I'd like to go into banking,'" she says, "And now I tell them they have official training."
Students pay their bills with checks, and if they make a mistake, Cassin insists they come to the class bank to reconcile their accounts. "It's so much better for the kids to learn the real–world practical experience, not just reading it as a chapter in a book," she explains.
Cassin points out that one of the most poignant takeaways the students pick up from the class is a greater sense of responsibility for money.
"They don't want to write out checks they don't want to or have to. I have a 'Wheel of Fortune and Misfortune' that they spin with consequences, rewards or status quo in which nothing happens, nothing changes." Cassin says. "And some of them are spinning and crossing their fingers saying, 'Status quo. Status quo.'"
Students in Cassin's classes end the semester with a "letter of resignation." Some kids say it's the "most awesome" class they've ever taken as they reluctantly give their notices. This may end this chapter in their financial education, but as Cassin notes, "Now, students are engaged in real life skills and are able to demonstrate the ability to budget for spending and saving." That’s a meaningful beginning.
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