When I walked into Auburn City Hall and saw Alyssa and Hailey, organizers of Auburn High School’s ‘Rethink Money’ event, I did a double take. Were these young business women or professionals working at City Hall?
Turns out they were the high school students. These two, along with fellow DECA students, brought Mayor Lewis, the business community, and several government and not for profits together for an evening that asked participants to rethink money.
Mayor Lewis opened the event by discussing the importance of anticipating the financial pitfalls all of us eventually face, and the rewards of preparing for them. He asked all of us to embrace the opportunity to prepare for our financial futures, and challenged today’s teens to be the difference that our economy needs when it comes to personal financial choices.
After Mayor Lewis spoke, the group broke into two sections. One that stayed with me and experienced the Investor Education in Your Community presentation, and another that engaged in business role playing exercises with volunteers from the business, government, and not for profit sectors. After 45 minutes, each group swapped places.
By night’s end, over 30 teens had learned about the power of compounding interest and how they can easily and inexpensively save for their financial futures by starting as teens. Additionally, DECA students learned to rethink wealth from another perspective: Dollars equal opportunities. The more dollars we have, the more options we have in life. The larger our savings account balance, the more ways we can impact our communities, either through taking time off from work and donating that time, or giving dollars to causes we care about.
Auburn High School DECA students should be proud of their well-organized, informative, and fun event.