Feb. 11, 2024
By Alexandra Lourenço
Editor
From creating a grocery list to paying bills and managing a checkbook, 120 students from LHS’ six personal finance classes got a glimpse of adult life during a field trip to Finance Park in Edison on Jan. 11 and 12.
Shortly after arriving at Finance Park, the students received iPads that randomly assigned them an occupation and gave them information about their persona’s family composition. Then, students set a budget and simulated purchases and loans to match their financial situation.
As students went about accomplishing these tasks, they were guided by volunteers from Sika Corporation, a Lyndhurst-based supplier of specialty chemical products and industrial materials, and Fort Lee-based Cross River Bank.
Personal finance teacher Mrs. Huntington said this trip, which is mandatory for all students in the half-year course, takes place in the winter and spring.
“It’s the part of the class where it all comes together,” Huntington said. “Everything we’ve learned in the classroom they have to apply [to] the simulation.”
She said one of the most memorable outcomes of the trip, which has been a tradition at LHS since 2010, is hearing students reflect on what they learned.
“One year, I had a student tell me that she went home and thanked her parents because she started to realize how much her parents do for her,” Huntington said. “It is truly important for students to understand what it is going to take to survive [financially] after high school.”
Sophomore Mariah Allen, who was a student in Huntington’s class during the first two marking periods, was assigned the identity of a single parent with two children who works as a preschool teacher and has a monthly salary of $3,000.
Allen said she was shocked to find out about the high cost of necessities, such as childcare, food and housing.
“We are at the age where we should start understanding budgeting and spending our money wisely.”
“The trip definitely changed my perspective on the world’s economy because of how expensive things were,” Allen said. “I learned not to mess around with my budgeting and to save every bit of money I get.”
Allen said high school students need to study personal finance because it prepares them for the future.
“We are at the age where we should start understanding budgeting and spending our money wisely,” Allen said.
Junior Lucas Francisco, who was assigned the same identity as Allen, said the trip complemented what he learned in Huntington’s class.
“There’s a touch of reality in the addition of the physical kiosks and the people behind them who are there to help you that you can’t get in class,” Francisco said.
He said he appreciated the helpfulness of the volunteers.
“[I am] very thankful Lorraine [from Sika Corporation] volunteered to come out that day. It was a privilege to work with her,” Francisco said. “[She] was extremely likable and was very professional when it came down to handling the important things in the simulation and any questions my group had.”
Francisco said the field trip taught him meaningful lessons.
“Coming back from this trip, I had a new appreciation for what is given to me through my parents and the luxuries I have,” Francisco said. “This trip really reinforced the idea that you should be smart with your money.”
