Accounting students teach seventh graders about financial literacy

Georgia College business students spent time this semester not only learning the basic principles of accounting, but also how to teach some of those concepts to others.

The student’s in Heather Gangi’s accounting course spent four days at GMC Prep helping middle school students learn the importance of planning for their future.

“The course focuses on our students developing a corporate social responsibility,” said Gangi. “By allowing our students to work with the younger students to develop a plan for their future, the GC students are really learning to understand that idea of social responsibility.”

The program they used for that is called Junior Achievement, which is the world’s largest organization that is dedicated to educating K-12 students on work readiness and financial literacy. It brings a hands-on learning environment to the students.

“Basically we are teaching them things like how to manage money and how the amount of money you make depends on the career you choose,” said sophomore Kaitlin Sensenbrenner. “It allows them to go through the process of thinking about what they want to do when they grow up and how much education they will need to accomplish that.”

The Junior Achievement Program helps prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace.

For the Georgia College students teaching the program, it is a learning process for them as well.

“I was not sure what to expect going into it, but the students have been very cooperative and receptive,” said sophomore marketing major Leo Mager. “By getting them to start thinking about things like this they can start setting goals early and plan for their future.”

As they asked the middle schoolers about their career goals and what steps they need to take to accomplish those goals, many GC students agree imparting knowledge to future generations is key.

“Being a part of this means a lot to me,” said Sensenbrenner. “ When I was their age, I didn’t necessarily have someone telling me these types of things, so I hope it gives them an understanding of the importance of thinking about what their future holds.”

Leo Mager (right) works with GMC students.

The four-day program was taught over a two-week period to the seventh grade students, and it's something the middle school teachers see continuing to offer GMC students in the future.

This project received a Journeyman Grant through the Georgia College Department of ENGAGE. This is one of four grantees funded this year, and each project demonstrates a unique way to unite community engagement and academic work through community-based engaged learning (C-bEL).

- Georgia College