When 200+ campers were asked to show hands if they haven’t ever received any formal education on financial literacy, nearly everyone’s hand shot up. Evidently, there is a serious deficiency in finance education. BestPrep ensures that students leave knowing how to budget, save and invest.
Nate Dungan, a past financial advisor, entrepreneur and author came to give a hard hitting speech on the necessity of having a money plan. He introduced the idea of sharing a portion of your money to “vote” on where you want your values to be upheld in society, then save a portion through investments or a savings plan, and then finally to spend on only what you can. At the end of the speech, students lined up in an attempt to ask more questions, and get connected with him in the future. Surely product of the networking skills they learned just a day earlier.
Following the speech, students had the opportunity to hear how finance, marketing, and operations are applied in real life businesses. Looking across the room, campers were hunched over their tables fervently taking notes on the information being given. Presenters layed out the information in a way that was intriguing and informative. One student remarked afterwards that “I always heard the term ‘bottom line’ but I never knew it had to do with financial statements”. The applicable nature of the information surely will resonate with students and motivate them to delve further into business after the end of camp.
Then, to apply the networking skills students picked up just a day earlier, campers had the opportunity to fill out a resume and job application to take part in mock job interview conducted by business executives. Students smiled confidently as they exited the interview, as if they had really gotten the job. Practicing interviewing is essential for confidence and success in real life job opportunities. One company leader had such a good mock interview that the interviewer offered him a possible spot as an intern at his company.
The final keynote speaker we heard from today was Rob Goggins, president of Great Clips. Rob proposed that at the core of good leadership, there is passion, a fixed vision and empathy. As Rob described experiences from his own life that brought him to his epiphany on the core of leadership, students faces’ lit up in awe as he explained how he applied these principals.
To complete the day, students had a company meeting where they began creating a business plan for a product they developed, which they will present to a panel of “investors” on Thursday. Overall, the theme of the third day of camp was about the type of information students need to apply throughout life, from finances to their future character.