Growing up, I learned a lot about math and science, and I even learned about history. However, we weren’t taught anything about taxes (other than we had to pay them) and we never heard anything about resumes, preparing for a job interview, fixing things around the house, or really anything that would later come up in life.
One school, though, decided it was time to step up. A high school in Kentucky, Fern Creek High School, set about to create a three-day workshop for students to prepare for real-life scenarios they would one day encounter, post-high school.
“We had bankers come in and talk to our students about basic loans,” College Access Resources teacher Sara Wilson-Abell said. “We had State Farm here talking about insurance. We had representatives here talking about retirement.”
Wilson-Abell came up with the course and use inspiration from her students, after asking them what they thought ‘adulting’ consisted of. Over 100 people responded, and stated suggestions like mental health management and financial efficiency.
“I learned a lot about my laundry,” senior Lilly Farmer said. “I knew some aspects of it, but I never sorted my clothes or anything like that. Now I know it’s very important to do.”
Day one of the course consisted of money management, where students were taught about retirement, basic banking, and taking out loans. Day two focused on home and health, in which students were taught basic cooking skills and how to make healthy meals easily. On day three, they were taught about professionalism, which included information on what employers look for when hiring.
“I’m very lucky to work at a school where the administration supports this type of learning and allowed me to implement my program idea for our seniors,” Wilson-Abell wrote on Twitter.