For the past two weeks, the 9th grade class at the Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI) and I have been participating in a financial literacy workshop led by a graduate student from the University of San Diego (USD). Although these workshops are intended specifically for high school students, I have actually learned more than I expected to from them. For example, I learned that it is not only important to save money, but it is also important to have a reason why I save. In other words, it is important to save with the intention of achieving a specific goal. This experience made me realize why it is so important for people to start learning about financial literacy at a young age.
During the first workshop, the students seemed hesitant about engaging in conversations that involved the topic of money. However, as the workshops progressed they became more comfortable discussing their experiences and relationships with money which made the workshops a lot more effective. During the second workshop, the students were asked to participate in an interactive project in which they had to fill out a monthly budget based on their own knowledge. This part of the two workshops was my favorite part because I noticed how interested the students were to learn more about budgeting, as well as how open they were to receiving as much knowledge as they could.
My experiences at Barrio Logan College Institute [BLCI] continue to surprise me in the best ways. I first began volunteering at BLCI because I wanted to give back and, as a first generation college student, share the knowledge I have gained from my two years at UC San Diego with the students. What I have realized, however, is that I have learned so much more from everyone at BLCI than I could have ever imagined. I hope to continue to learn and be able to share more of my knowledge.
