Middle School Students Take on Finance Park

Seniors Sam Sturgis (back left) and Katie Kline (back right) and junior Evelyn Argueta (front right) help the middle school students manage their finances at Finance Park.

Kim Williams

Seniors Sam Sturgis (back left) and Katie Kline (back right) and junior Evelyn Argueta (front right) help the middle school students manage their finances at Finance Park.

On Monday, December 7, over 100 East Noble Middle School’s 7th and 8th grade students traveled to Fort Wayne on a field trip to Junior Achievement’s Finance Park to experience firsthand what being an adult is actually like from the financial standpoint.

This is the second time that the students have participated in a JA program, the first being their trip to BizTown in 6th grade, where they were put through job interviews by their teachers and assigned jobs and responsibilities at BizTown based on their interests and interviews. While BizTown demonstrated how a town’s economy works as a whole and what each business brings to the table, Finance Park showed the students how their personal finances aren’t just there to spend on video games and iPods.

At Finance Park, each student was assigned to a certain business of the building, with each business accommodating around 12 students and two adult or high school volunteers. Each student was assigned an iPad, a debit card, and a unique financial situation. Financial situations ranged from being single with no kids to being married with four kids and everything in between. Students earned different incomes, too. Some had endless options with their money while others were just trying to make ends meet.

First, students budgeted their money based on what they thought they would be able to spend. Then they went “shopping” for their cars, houses, insurance, utilities, entertainment and more. The priority was to shop for the big-ticket items first, like the house and car and everything that goes with them. Then the entertainment category was to be shopped for last with each person’s remaining income. Many students found that they overspent on their house or car and were having trouble paying their utility bill, or they were shopping in the entertainment category first. This is where the adult or high school volunteers stepped in to walk them through what they had spent so they could find some extra money.

“I wish when I was in middle school that we had come to Finance Park,” said senior Katie Kline, one of the 10 high school volunteers.  “The students found out what their parents have to pay for, and I know that I wouldn’t have taken that for granted if I was aware of the money they have to spend on bills.”

East Noble did not participate in Finance Park when this year’s senior class, which includes Kline, was in middle school. They only started participating a few years ago.

“The students were very engaged in what their finances and responded well when we explained to them where their spending errors were,” said senior Sam Sturgis. “Even though we aren’t out of school yet, they still took into account what we were showing them.”

Most of the students walked into Finance Park under the impression that they would be able to buy whatever they desired with their money. But what they took away from their experience was the value of money and how it needs to be spent carefully, a lesson that needs to be learned at an early age. While Finance Park was a good opportunity for the students to travel outside the classroom for the day, they still had a learning experience.