Seniors Learn Financial Literacy at Credit for Life Fair
By Julie Mahoney
STAFF WRITER
This year’s Credit for Life Fair took place on April 4 during H4 in the Field House, giving seniors a chance to practice financial decision-making and prepare them for their future.
The seventh year running, the fair incorporates hands-on activities that teach seniors how to budget money in all areas of life, ranging from medical needs, housing, food, transportation, and more. Students go around to various booths and learn how to manage money. The fair has various partners, including the Andover Service Club, Andover Public Schools, FitMoney, Andover Rotary Club, Savings Bank of Andover, and members of the Andover School Committee. Taking months to prepare, the fair took “a lot of organization,” according to Gregory Hurley, the Program Coordinator of the Social Studies Department who helped run the event.
While seniors were told about the event on the previous H1, some felt confused or annoyed about not being well-informed. However, some seniors like Olivia Murphy thought it was “really important now because in college a lot of us probably won’t have our parents close-by to answer our questions about this stuff.” For others, like senior Quinne Dowe, the information wasn’t new due to already working a job.
Another senior, Andrew Magner, thought it was a good use of the H-Block and “fun because you could hang out with your friends while learning about managing your money for the future. It was much more engaging than any video in an H-Block could be.” However, other seniors like Diya Ganesh thought the information could have been arranged better, as she “just went through the motions and didn’t gain much from it,” which she thought may be due to her previous information on finances.
Most seniors seemed to have already known how to budget money in some sense and thought that the information was redundant, although many like Magner and Murphy thought that it was useful. Amelia Hanscom agreed on its relevance, stating, “It taught me about some of the best ways to approach money management once I reach adulthood.”
“As students graduate from high school, there is an expectation for them to take on a level of independence which also comes with responsibilities,” Hurley said. “That includes financial independence and financial responsibility.” The fair is targeted at seniors due to them being less than a year away from further education and financial independence, although the fair is being adapted for willing juniors in future years “so that students who are interested have a little more information about financial literacy,” said Hurley. In the future, both seniors and juniors will be able to attend although as of right now it is unsure who would be required to.
While this was the first normal year after COVID-19 that contained the fair, the event didn’t come to a halt during the pandemic. Similar to school, Hurley added that the fair “has been going in either hybrid, remote, or in-person format, for the last seven years and it has continued to grow each year.” The organizational staff hopes to expand the fair and make it more engaging for the students so they can better understand financial skills and reduce stress before entering the real world.
