Michelle Ott and her Pocomoke High Students
“More than 70% of our students come from families of poverty. If we do not want that percentage to grow, we need to educate our students. Our students need to be taught what oftentimes people assume to be common knowledge.”
Dr. Annette Wallace, the principal of Pocomoke High School, recognized that incoming freshmen were lacking in a few areas–one of them being financial literacy. She designed a freshmen seminar that every freshman takes during his/her first semester at Pocomoke High School. The students rotate between four teachers where they take a five-week course in each of the following areas: financial literacy, public speaking, writing skills, and life skills. As the newest addition to the mathematics department, Dr. Wallace thought my energy was just what she and Junior Achievement were looking for to teach the financial literacy portion of this course.
What specifically do you see occurring in our community at large that proves there is a need for this type of education?
More than 70% of our students come from families of poverty. If we do not want that percentage to grow, we need to educate our students. Our students need to be taught what oftentimes people assume to be common knowledge. They need to learn how they can earn an income by selecting the job that is best going to meet their abilities, aptitudes, interests, and values. Then, they must be specifically taught how to manage that income, including paying taxes, budgeting their money, and saving for the future. If we want our community to prosper, we need to teach our community’s future, our students, how they can prosper.
During the Junior Achievement Adopt a School Dinner you spoke of having to have “hard conversations” with your students about some financial realities, and the students that spoke at the dinner in turn mentioned having some illuminating moments about their financial and career futures. How do you think these “ah-ha!” moments are affecting your students’ ability to take control of their future success?
Although we have had to have some “hard conversations,” I believe these are the conversations the students are going to remember. These are the conversations these students will remember well beyond their years at Pocomoke High School. These conversations will resonate with them when they are faced with financial decisions that will affect their futures. I have shared my life experiences, including hardships, to show my students that we are all faced with hard times. But, it is certainly possible to overcome those hardships and have a successful future.
How does your involvement with youth financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship efforts affect our area as a whole? How does it affect our future citizens and the future of the Eastern Shore?
As cliché as it may sound, these students are our future. In my course, we discuss how spending and saving habits are generally a learned behavior. The way in which our grandparents spent and saved was likely passed onto our parents. The way in which our parents spend and save is likely to be passed onto us. The way in which we spend and save will likely be passed onto our children and generations to come. If we teach our students how to be financially responsible, not only will it set them up for a prosperous future, but it will also create a new trend that will be passed onto future generations.
I know you have already shared three amazing stories from three great students. Do you have any other stories you would like to share with us, or any other information you would like to pass along?
In all honesty, it has been my pleasure to have been given the opportunity to teach this course. Junior Achievement is such a phenomenal organization that does so much for our students and our community. I feel privileged to say I have taken part in shaping the financial future of our students and our community at large.
Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore 