Sora Miller, Jackson Hull, and James Horning.

What is personal finance?

Personal finance is a term that covers managing your money as well as saving and investing. Many students at Greater Nanticoke Area High School enjoy the benefits of learning information in Personal Finance I, a class offered to students as an elective.

Many schools don’t have an elective or regular class for personal finance. It is more of a college class that you can take. Some of our GNA students would like to see a personal finance II because they really enjoyed personal finance last year.

To show how many students like the class, The GNA Insider interviewed a group of students who took the class last year, including Sora Miller, Jackson Hull, and James Horning.

Would you like to see a personal finance II, if so why? 

Sora Miller: “Yes, I feel that personal finance is one of the classes that teaches you things that can help you in life.”

Jackson Hull: “I would love to see a personal finance II, I would like to see a personal finance II class, because I feel like there is a lot more to learn than personal finance I, and I really like having Ms. Walton as a teacher.”

James Horning: “Absolutely, I think that Ms. Walton is a very good teacher, and I also enjoyed the class because I would use it a lot in life.”

Do you think it would make an impact on you if there were to be a personal finance II?

Sora Miller: “Ya, I think it would make me learn much more and help me later in life.”

Jackson Hull: “Yes, if there was a personal finance II, it would have a very big impact on me, because I would be able to learn more about managing money and I wouldn’t go broke in the future.”

James Horning: ” I think that I would learn more I would definitely benefit from it in a real-life scenario.”  

Did you like personal finance and what did you learn about last year?

Sora Miller: “Of course I did; yes, I learned mainly how to write checks and many other things, but specifically money.”

Jackson Hull: “I loved personal finance, and from what I knew before going into personal finance, I definitely feel like I learned a lot more. I actually learned how to save my money, and a bunch of other cool stuff that would help me in the future.”

James Horning: “Absolutely, I enjoyed the class last year and I think everything I learned in it will definitely apply to me in real life.” 

After interviewing these students we went to interview Mrs. Walton, the teacher who teaches personal finance I. Within these questions we go more in depth, that is more than pushing for a personal finance II in the next paragraph. Such as making it mandatory for the senior students of our high school.

Do you think Pennsylvania should make personal finance mandatory for all high school students?

“Yes, I think all high school students should have the opportunity to learn about money management. Learning about the basics of budgeting, saving, and debt are important life skills that are needed in the 21st century.”

What does personal finance teach students?

“Personal finance teaches students how to manage money by making important financial decisions about saving, budgeting, debt, credit cards and investing.”

Do you think a personal finance II class would be beneficial for students?

“Yes, I think I would have a personal finance II class for juniors and seniors to give them the opportunity to learn about money management skills that they will utilize beyond their high school years.”

You may ask yourself, should a finance class be mandatory? Well, it could be beneficial in so many ways such as learning how to manage money, saving money, learning how to do taxes, just to name a few.