Three D228 Teachers Participate in Prestigious Business & Financial Responsibility Seminar

While most educators and students were enjoying the Columbus Day weekend with family and friends, business technology teachers from District 228 were participating in an intense 3-day learning experience on business and financial responsibility at the University of Chicago’s Booth Business School in Chicago. This learning experience was a prestigious event that only accepted 110 teachers from across the nation to attend. “We had to fill out an application and write an essay on why the seminar would benefit us and how it pertains to what we teach. When I read the description I knew it was a perfect fit with the new Personal Finance class,” said Katie Gomez, Business Technology teacher at Oak Forest and Hillcrest High School, “Once I received the acceptance letter I was ecstatic that I would be able to participate and meet other Personal Finance teachers from across the U.S!” The seminar was designed to help educators deepen their understanding of financial literacy and develop business-related skills that they could then seamlessly integrate into their classrooms. “The seminar was unlike any other professional development opportunity I had ever been to,” said Amber Guzak, Bremen HS Business Technology teacher, “The curriculums we were exposed to were top notch. Pricewaterhouse Coopers is the largest professional service firm in the world; to have them investing in high school students’ futures and understanding of personal finance is a game changer.””PwC and Knowledge@Warton High School did a phenomenal job hosting this seminar. Being surrounded by educators that teach personal finance from around the nation was exciting and uplifting. I feel more confident and more prepared to bring my students cutting edge programs that align to our new Personal Finance curriculum perfectly. I look forward to sharing what we learned this weekend with the other business teachers throughout the district,” said Business Tech teacher Todd Strein. Within three days, teachers were exposed to over 20 speakers with diverse backgrounds. Some speakers were from the corporate world from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, there were also representatives from Chicago Tribune, Northwestern, Greater Chicago Personal Financial Services, Warton School of Management, Knowledge@Warton High School and many more.

“On Sunday morning the last speaker presented on the rate of return and four year college degrees; it was extremely interesting and eye opening to see that many students are going to college and coming out with more loans that they can pay back. He also showed the data on the up and coming career fields and starting salaries. I look forward to sharing this information with my students and fellow teachers,” said Guzak.