Take Charge helps prepare high school students for adulthood

Posted by: Abigail Wood

awood@klkntv.com

"What do you think you might borrow money for?" LPS teacher Kim Pickering asked her Take Charge class at Lincoln High School Tuesday.

The students spout out answers. College. A car. 

The class is designed to prepare juniors for life after high school, teaching them practical things like how to navigate an interview, balance a checkbook, or make smart investments.

"We can’t assume that adults know how to manage their finances," Pickering explained. "There are a lot of adults that do very poorly and make bad mistakes. So hopefully by introducing this at the high school level we’ll prevent those mistakes from happening."

The class is very hands-on. Students job shadow, prepare a resume, and look at real scholarship applications.

"We’re going to have a mock interview in a couple of weeks," said junior Tania Dominguez. "I’m excited to see what that’s like."

Tania is going to job shadow as a teacher at Roper Elementary. She says when she started the class, she didn’t know much about life after high school.

"There’s just so much paperwork," Dominguez said. "And paperwork just kind of stresses me out in general."

But she says the class helped, especially with financial advice aimed at the first few years after high school.

"As soon as I get out of high school, I’m probably moving right out of my house and into my own place," said another junior student, Coletin Fox.

Fox has a lot of things he wants to do after high school. He’s looking at colleges; the Air Force reserve unit, and jobs. He says the class is helping him get together everything he needs.

"It’s helping me build up for when I get out of high school," he said.

Teachers say the class wouldn’t be possible without help from the community. For example, it’s an outside company that provides the mock interview, and local banks help with hands-on finance education.