Students in Grades 11 and 12 will be receiving some lessons on money before the school year is out.
A Financial Literacy Project is being rolled out in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows high schools addressing the topics of: budgeting, income and expenses and managing debt; cost of a vehicle, housing and insurance; understanding banking and why credit matters; tax basics and paycheck management; post-secondary education costs; and cyber-security, fraud and identity theft.
Sessions at each of the high schools will be starting on April 8. The first one will take place at Thomas Haney secondary. Each session will be about two hours where community partners will be brought in to talk about each of the topics.
Then students at each of the schools will do a series of group projects which will be evaluated over the summer in order to bring back a full years curriculum for the 2019/20 school year.
The new program is being initiated by Jesse Sidhu, founder of Empower A Youth.
“All too often, our young people are ill-prepared and lack the basic skills to navigate their finances. As our high school students become financially independent and in the process of leaving high school, having a solid foundation regarding financial concepts is integral,” said Sidhu.
“It was extremely important for us to have the full support of SD42, as well as partner with a community based organization who believes in and is truly passionate about community, and passionate about teaching financial literacy. We are more than excited to have Westminster Savings Credit Union as our title community sponsor for this pilot launch,” he continued.
A parent information night will be taking place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 at Thomas Haney secondary, 23000 116 Ave. in Maple Ridge.
For more information contact Sidhu at 604-961-3620 or email at info@eventcheckin.ca.
