SAS Students Attempt To Close The Financial Literacy Gap
In January of 2024, Carlos Reyes and Lucas Ross, students at Miami Dade College’s School for Advance Studies, realized their high school curriculum lacked financial literacy.
Inspired to fill the gap, the North Campus students launched FinanceFirst, an organization cretaed to help children, teenagers and adults improve their financial education.
The program offers 10 financial literacy classes through their website: budgeting, saving and investing, understanding interest, debt management, taxes, insurance, retirement planning, financial products, economic factors and consumer awareness.
And they offer in-person workshops at local schools and community events.
“Money is what makes the world go round, it’s more of a taboo topic, but it’s super important,” said Ross, one of the organization’s vice presidents. “A lot of young people don’t know how to file taxes, how credit cards work or simple things [everyone] needs to know.”
Since last year, FinanceFirst has continued to grow its leadership team. They added another SAS student, William Bello, who creates Powerpoints presentations and activity sheets, and Elyssa Saldana, a senior at Barbara Goleman Senior High School, who manages the organization’s social media and advertising.
But their growth has come with some speed bumps. The organization faced limitations hosting outreach events because most institutions required them to be registered as a nonprofit organization.
They eventually transitioned into the nonprofit sphere to expand their initiative beyond Miami Dade College.
Reyes encountered another obstacle. While building the website, it failed to upload and he was forced to restart the project. The entire process took nearly 60 hours to complete.
“It made me feel like I wanted to quit,’” said Reyes, who serves as president of the organization. “[But] I was like how am I able to accomplish more if I can’t even get over this small adversity.”
FinanceFirst now has 20 ambassadors who are training so they can host workshops around Florida.
They have hosted sessions at Treasure Island Elementary School in North Bay Village, teaching six to eight year olds about the value of money, saving and budgeting basics.
In addition, they have attended a National Night Out Against Crime event in Miami Beach, spreading awareness about financial literacy.
Their website has engaged more than 700 visitors, garnered more than 15,000 social media views and raised more than $1,000 through gofundme and cash donations. The funds are used to expand the program.
“The information they’re giving students is very important,” said Connie Crawford Rodriguez, who serves as the club’s advisor. “We live in a society that revolves around money, investment, savings, all of that kind of stuff. So giving some basic knowledge to young people who tend not to think about that stuff at all is enormously valuable.”
FinanceFirst hosts club meetings every third Thursday of the month in Room 1121 at North Campus, 11380 N.W. 27th Ave.
For more information, contact FinanceFirstClub@gmail.com or visit their Instagram page @financefirstedu.
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