Bremen HS Hosts GLCU for 'Mad City Money'

Bremen High School was excited to host Ms. Shuntae Richardson, Community Development Coordinator for Great Lakes Credit Union as she led an interactive budgeting simulation titled, Mad City Money! BHS Personal Finance teachers Mrs. Amy Biedron, Mrs. Amber Guzak and Mr. Todd Strein brought their students to the presentation so that could partake in the interactive simulation. Students were handed a “life” which included their career, marital status, monthly take home salary, debts they have incurred and how many children they had. They then traveled around the city (BHS IMC) figuring out their monthly budgets. They figured out how much money they needed to survive throughout the month. Child care, household needs, cell phone bills, cable, college loans, car payments, were just a few of the costs they needed to determine. The students were shocked at the amount of money that adults need to pay out every single month. They were most surprised at the cost of clothing, child care and student loans. Freshmen Danielle Pavoni said, “I was most surprised about child care and the cost of food! In my simulation I had a good job and a college degree, and was still in debt!” Bremen High School is striving to help its students leave high school prepared to enter the real world. All freshmen students in District 228 take Personal Finance. “We want our students to be better off when they leave high school than we were. Our goal is for them to fully understand what a student loan is and be prepared to pay it off after college. We also want to make sure they can balance their checking account and know how to apply for scholarships. We go over interest rates, credit cards, and buying a car. We also compare the salaries of different occupations. The curriculum for this class is phenomenal and fully loaded for the real world. Ms. Richardson and her team gave a perfect presentation tying what we talk about in class into real world scenarios,” said Career & Technology teacher Mrs. Guzak. Mrs. Richardson ended the presentation by letting the students know that Great Lakes Credit Union has several scholarship opportunities for high school students. BHS would like to thank Great Lakes Credit Union. For more information on the BHS Personal Finance or Mad City Money contact Mrs. Guzak at aguzak@bhsd228.com.