Professionals from across the finance industry volunteered their time to conduct financial literacy workshops with students from Cathedral 7-12 High School’s senior class.
Students heard presentations from and talked in small groups with more than 20 volunteers from sectors ranging from banking and insurance to investment and wealth management firms.
The applied learning workshops help prepare students who are about to graduate and will have some level of financial independence for the first time in their lives. Topics of the presentations included managing credit and debt, saving for the future and for retirement, and budgeting.
“You have real professionals who have real expertise and you have students who are willing to learn and asking some tough questions,” said Jay Allen, a trustee of Cathedral High School who is retired from investment sales and relationship management with Credit Suisse.
In addition to the presentations, the Cathedral scholars sat in small groups and talked over lunch about their personal financial goals and questions with the professionals.
“Cathedral facilitates a variety of applied learning opportunities, including these financial literacy workshops, which pair students with mentors and experts to provide practical learning in addition to traditional classroom learning,” said Dr. Oscar Santos, head of school at Cathedral. “These skills, along with strong academics, values, and service will better prepare our scholars to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders in an ever changing world.”
The seniors who attended remarked about the concrete take-aways they got from the workshop. “It made me realize that if I put money down every month, that it will build up,” reflected Emanuel Green ’17. “I can think about that stuff now that I know,” he said. Alexis Livingston ’17 added that, for her, “budget is basically the whole purpose of this financial literacy class.”
Cathedral High School is an urban, multicultural, independent, Catholic, college preparatory school in Boston’s historic South End serving boys and girls of all faiths from grades seven through 12. Rooted in gospel values, we prepare students for college and leadership for life.
