Not just dollars and cents.
FINANCIAL LITERACY
Our real-world approach to financial literacy empowers students across all divisions with the mindset to start making sound financial decisions and develop into responsible global citizens.
We go beyond the abstract. We build real budgets and calculate cost of living. We investigate banks and invest funds for hypothetical start-ups. We create business plans and pay mock taxes. And to make things more interesting – we dig in to cryptocurrency.
Throughout the curriculum we have integrated lessons about key financial pillars: earning, borrowing, spending, donating, saving, and investing. Beginning early allows us to reinforce these healthy habits as students move on to higher divisions, all while maintaining developmentally appropriate expectations.
LOWER school
In the Lower School, our students begin to build the foundation of financial literacy. Students learn the difference between wants and needs – helping them understand why people use money – and they begin to understand what it means to save towards a purchase. They begin to make connections between jobs and money, learn about farmers and grocery stores, and play games that teach what it means to spend, borrow, donate, earn, and budget. Learning money values, setting goals, and how to make sound financial decisions are critical life skills that we focus on in Lower School.
middle and intermediate schools
In the Middle and Intermediate Schools, students build on concepts learned in Lower School. Whether they are creating a project that needs a budget, learning about compounding interest in math, studying stocks in Grade 8, or learning what constitutes an advanced economy, financial concepts are integrated into the curriculum. Students learn about cost of living and related fluctuations based on location and income - these often turn into productive discussions around socio-economic differences. Students also dig into lessons on credit, high interest loans, payback or fallback, interest and why it exists, stocks and volatility. We also research financial websites that help manage savings, investments, and teach budgeting.
upper school
In the Upper School, we offer five elective courses on economics and business topics, and students can take additional classes with financial literacy content from Global Online Academy. Students may also enroll in the Economics, Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Business (EFEB) concentration, serve as Financial Literacy Student Leaders, join the Investment Club, or apply to serve on the Student Board of Investments, a group of six students who invest a portion of the school's endowment. Students may also join the Economics Competition Team, receive coaching, and travel to events such as the Harvard Precollegiate Economics Challenge. Advanced concepts such as portfolio diversification, derivatives, asymmetric information, and behavioral economics are explored in this division, ensuring that students are prepared to understand the local and global economy in depth.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the eighth grade math classes each enjoyed a visit from Potomac parents, past and present, along with alumni, to discuss financial literacy. The eighth grade students are currently exploring long term growth of monetary investments and exponential growth in their curriculum, and the speakers, who are all experts in finance and financial literacy, helped the students dig deeper into this important topic.
Based on course enrollments, the growth of the Investment Club, and the popularity of Shark Tank-style projects in the Upper School, we know that financial literacy, economics, and entrepreneurship are topics that spark our students’ interest. In addition, Potomac defines financial literacy as one of the critical life skills that we aim to help all students develop. After several months of focused discussion, Upper School faculty and administrators have created a pilot concentration program to allow deeper exploration of one or more of these topics of interest.
Potomac students Lauren Hilliard and Abigael Lonkeng participated in the virtual ChangeFest hosted by LearnServe. The event was the culmination of a seven-month Fellows Program focused on social entrepreneurship that included students from 30 public, charter, and independent schools across the DC area. Each student pitched their social venture to a panel of judges. Lauren's initiative focused on code switching, while Abigael focused on providing financial literacy resources to underserved community members. Congratulations to both on developing compelling social ventures!
The Upper School's Financial Literacy Student Leaders – seniors under the direction of faculty member Dr. Giorgio Secondi – held financial literacy assemblies for their classmates. Topics included budgeting and cost of living, credit and debit cards, credit scores, saving and investing, debt, and taxes. In addition to covering basic principles, the presenters shared real-world examples and informative charts. At the end of the assemblies, the sophomores tested their knowledge with a quiz, while the seniors participated in a number of games with prizes.