This school year, the new Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) Personal Finance course began offering college credit to Lexington High School students.
While Syracuse runs these concurrent courses in many subjects across high schools, personal finance is currently the only SUPA course offered at LHS. History Department Head Kerry Dunne proposed the idea of adding the Syracuse program in addition to the regular curriculum after seeing SUPA integrated in other school districts. Teachers Mathew Gardner and Edward Unger have taken on developing this new class, even attending training on the Syracuse campus.
“I thought [the class] was something that might be appealing to me as a teacher, to challenge myself, and to the students of Lexington for the possibility of getting Syracuse credits,” Unger said.
The course curriculum covers a variety of topics, from the importance of a good credit score to saving for retirement. In addition to typical textbook readings, the class is largely activity-based.
“We try to have some sort of activity or prompt. If we are looking at stocks, it might be to have students pick and track stocks for a while. If we’re looking at insurance, we might be having students review different types of insurance policies in a lot of different areas like health or auto or home. It really is discussion [and] trying to have students apply what they’ve learned,” Unger said.
Maya Wrona, a senior who took the course, believes these real-life applications and discussions are what made the class appealing and unique.
“I’m going to college soon, and I figured that I’m going to make my own financial decisions soon. I wanted to know just the basics of starting off strong with being financially stable and avoiding unnecessary debt–just creating healthy money habits that will benefit me for until retirement and beyond. I believe the practicality of this course is what makes it different from my other courses, and I really enjoyed… being in the role of a financial advisor,” Wrona said.
This more in-depth approach also differs from the traditional Intro to Personal Finance course, giving the class a faster pace.
“We try to have more case studies than the other personal finance class, and again, it’s a college credit class. I think we always thought it was going to be more aligned with an AP class, so it’s just [like] the difference between AP [United States History] and American History,” Unger said.
However, the personal finance curriculum actually does not overlap much with other courses. Despite perceived similarities with economics, the SUPA class is considered a math credit for LHS graduation requirements, since it involves calculating certain equations.
“Believe it or not, personal finance and [economics] aren’t necessarily as close as people might think. Economics reviews the economy as a whole or specific market, but personal finance is more than that. It’s about wealth management, it’s about insurance, it’s about developing credit,” Unger said.
Dillon Noonan, a senior who took both economics and SUPA Personal Finance with Unger, believes that the latter is more hands-on. His favorite lesson, for instance, involved a stock market simulation.
“We had elevator pitches for stocks that we wished to invest in, and then after that, we [simulated] investing in those stocks. We had a spreadsheet with four stocks that we chose, and looked at the progression over time. What was really fun about it was that the kid that sat next to me [and I] both invested in quantum computing stocks, and they completely skyrocketed right after the Google announcement,” Noonan said.
Unlike most courses at LHS, which teach core academic subjects, the main objective of this personal finance class is to teach students valuable life skills. This is the reason Unger chose to teach SUPA Personal Finance, and it is a goal he is making progress toward.
“I do think that regardless of what career students choose, they need to be financially literate for their future to reach their goals… A new course is a lot of trial and error [about] what really resonates with students and what doesn’t, so I’m just gonna try to listen to my student feedback and hopefully develop the course a little better for the future,” Unger said.
Noonan also agrees that the class has changed his perspective on finances after graduation.
“When you get paid $100 as a teenager, you’re not really thinking about paying insurance, going towards your IRAs, all that stuff. So [the class] made me view salaries differently, which I guess isn’t really something affecting me now, but it’s something I’m thinking about for the future,” Noonan said.
