John Monfredo: WTHS Grant Invests in Future Business Leaders

Saturday, April 06, 2013

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester Education Contributor

Worcester Technical High School's new grant will support financial literacy programs.

Worcester Technical High School is one of 10 high schools across the state to receive a grant for $20,000 to develop a pilot financial literacy program for the 2013-2014 school year. This announcement was made by both Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman and Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester.

Commissioner Chester stated, “It is more important than ever that every student leave high school equipped with the ability to apply personal financial literacy concepts and skills that are pivotal to making key life decisions.” The Financial Literacy Pilot Program is a three year pilot to help school districts equip high school students with the knowledge and skills necessary to become self-supporting and make critical decisions regarding personal finances.

Worcester Technical High School was elated to receive this grant and will partner with the Worcester Credit Union, the Regional Science Resource Center and University of Massachusetts Medical School to implement the financial literacy program.

Principal Sheila Harrity was most enthusiastic about receiving this grant for she stated, “This Financial Literacy program, we believe, is invaluable to our students’ lifelong learning. We have been eager to identify a program that provides guidance on personal financial planning as well as becoming a business owner. The intent of this Financial Literacy program will be to first understand and plan one’s own finances and cover building a business including what is an entrepreneur, return on investment, economics, marketing and research business, personal and business costs, keeping good records, incomes and statements, and financing strategies and entrepreneur skills.”

According to their grant application they will incorporate the Network for Training Entrepreneurs into the pre-Calculus course and the Vocational/Technical Chapter 74 Hospitality, Web Development and Finance Marking programs. This will guide the students on personal financial planning as well as how to become a business owner.

This course teaches students to become economically productive members of society by improving their academic business technology and life skills. This course will help students explore new opportunities and build a vision for the future. This program is a yearlong course to be taught in the junior or senior year. The material will be presented, one hour per day to both senior sections over a 20-week period. The goal is to collaborate with NFTE (Network for Training Entrepreneurs and their goal to encourage entrepreneurial thinking for high school, college, business owners, and the workforce. Furthermore, the Financial Literacy Programs aligns to high school standards in the 2011 MA Curriculum Framework for Mathematics as well as the common core and chapter 74 vocational technical standards.

The course goals are to:

Increase the student’s ability to communicate effectively in both written and oral form in an entrepreneurial setting.
Improve and re-enforce mathematical skills relevant to the entrepreneurial process.
Develop and improve analytical and critical thinking skills involving opportunity recognition and one’s competitive advantage.
Develop income statement.
Analyze and calculate return on investment.
Conduct independent market research in developing a marketing plan.
Develop and implement an advertising/publicity plan.
Complete a basic business plan.
Complete a personal financial plan.

The intent of this Financial Literacy program will be to first understand and plan one’s own finances and cover building a business including what is an entrepreneur, return on investment, economics, marketing and research business, personal and business costs, keeping good records, incomes and statements, and financing strategies and entrepreneur skills. In addition, it will also cover employability, and business writing and speaking skills.

Financial literacy in the Finance and Marketing trade will incorporate, as mentioned, a partnership with the Worcester Credit Union and learn from them. The students will then be able to address what they have learned in financial literacy workshops to members of the school and Worcester Community. Students will be required to complete and present their personal and business plans. The plans will be presented at community sessions or business plan competitions as part of their senior project. The final project will deal with the following:

Financial Statements (yearly income statement)
Market Research
Target Market
Market Plan
Startup Costs
Loss of Goods Sold
Philanthropy Plan

This program does align to high school standards in the 2011 MA Curriculum Framework for Mathematics. The plan also calls for technological knowledge and skills that are part of WTHS Innovation STEM early career and college ready initiative. One of the team members of the grant committee is Tamisha Thompson who is the math liaison for the Worcester Public Schools. She will support the implementation of the program through district level work on all aspects of the math component. She will also provide support to other high schools in the district that want to create similar financial literacy modules. The course will also incorporate management and entrepreneurship knowledge and skill that will assist students in running their own business.

In summary, Principal Harrity, specified, “Our Program at Worcester Technical High School consists of a three-fold plan. First, The Network for Training Entrepreneurs (NFTE) program will be incorporated in the existing Pre-Calculus course curriculum. This part of the course will teach students to become economically productive members of society. It will help students explore new opportunities and build a vision for their future and it is relevant to the real world. Students will be expected to meet all course goals and be able to demonstrate the skills needed to manage their own finances and start and maintain their own business. Second, the Finance and Marketing trade will incorporate the Literacy program by collaborating with the Worcester Credit Union where students will be trained by professionals from the bank so that students will be able to make financial literacy workshops to members of the school and outside community. Third, this program will be integrated into the curricula of the Hospitality, Programming, and Web Development Vocational/Technical Chapter 74 trades at Worcester Technical High School by incorporating the Network for Training Entrepreneurs (NFTE).”

Get ready to attend a workshop on Finance and Marketing in June of 2014, by the future entrepreneurs of Worcester Technical High School! With the solid grounding in finance, fiscal responsibility, and marketing, they will be set to usher in a new way of business development in Central Massachusetts in the years to come!