EBCL offers finances class

By Ethan Sprouse | Manor Ink

Monticello, NY – Attention all teens in the workforce! How would you like to learn how to effectively make and manage the money from your paychecks?

There is a class taking place at the Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library in this village that teaches exactly that. It’s led by Ethan Clark and Samuel Lieberman, two Sullivan West students, every other Saturday at 2 p.m. Manor Ink attended their class meet on Feb. 21, and there are four meetings remaining. Of course, in case of an extreme weather cancellation, as per the library’s protocol, the missed class will be rescheduled to a later date.

The financial literacy class is exactly what it sounds like, a class where teenagers ages 13 to 18 can sign up and attend a series of presentations about money management skills, things like creating a budget and developing healthy spending habits. But why were two young adults interested in teaching kids about finances?

“It was kind of a mix of our passion for business and our passion for helping other people that led to this being created,” said Clark. They’ve run this class once in the past and they hope to make it a yearly session, and also have hopes to run a second class during the fall months as well, allowing students with schedule conflicts to possibly attend later in the year.

When asked why the subject might be important to teens, Clark and Lieberman shared a story of how they had seen kids work hard at a job in high school, only to end up with little cash to show for it. Many kids in their area they said often spend their money carelessly, and end up with very little left, or may even be left in credit card debt. “The idea is that if we can teach them when they are first starting out with a job, then they will have skills necessary for later on in life, and will already have some money saved,” Lieberman said.

The two plan on teaching the class through playing games like Monopoly to show students common mistakes people make early on. They also mentioned an M&M game where you have to budget your M&Ms between basic necessities and desires. At the end of the month, students who attended all five classes also receive a $50 bonus to get started with an account of their own. For more information about the class, visit ebcpl.org.