Jul 12, 2023
BTE Student Stories
Site Coordinator Dykisha Potter shares an update from the BTE Englewood, Florida, USA site, which is currently in Year 2 of the BTE program.
During the first quarter of 2023, our BTE students participated in activities where they explored career paths and put their financial literacy skills to the test on an engaging financial simulation game. Listening to our students has been the focus of the first quarter, as the goal of our activities have been to build the skills necessary for professional and personal development. Our students have thoroughly enjoyed the activities, which we can see through their increased engagement and enthusiasm.
As part of their professional development activities, in January we conducted a college and career exploration day for our students. They completed interest surveys and researched various careers that might be a good fit for them. The knowledge learned here has influenced our college tour in quarter two and our summer activity planning. We have learned that one of the biggest interests of our students is in marketing and sales. To best match our students’ interest with our activities, we have started to plan an interactive Marketing and Sales day at Johnson & Johnson this summer.
This quarter, our students also participated in our Financial Simulation game, FabLife. In this game, our students experienced the challenge of organizing their finances as adults. They were given a scenario that included occupation, monthly income, family size, and a budget sheet. The challenge was to balance a monthly budget, accounting for categories like housing, transportation, childcare, groceries, etc. To make the game resemble real life even more, they also received a “Crystal Ball” card throughout the game with real-life incidents like getting a bonus at work or needing a surgery that impact their income. All our students remained engaged in the activity and it opened up their eyes to just how challenging it can be to be an adult with multiple expenses. This could not have been done without the help of our J&J mentors and some teacher volunteers who manned the various stations. Afterwards, one of our mentors, Spencer, led a follow-up lesson on financial stability.
*
Thank you so much for giving us a look at the BTE Englewood site, Dykisha! If you want to learn more about BTE Englewood, visit their Site Page.