By: Alexis LeMieux

At Bellbrook High School, there are a wide variety of business classes a student can take, including business foundations and personal finance.

In Personal Finance classes, students learn how to manage their money well.

“In Personal Finance, we teach students all of the fundamental skills they’ll need to manage their money as adults,” teacher Josh Craig said. “We learn about working and earning, taxes, budgeting, banking, investing, credit, borrowing money, and insurance.”

“Everything Mr. Craig and I cover in that class will teach students how to manage their finances, budget their money, and navigate several other adult issues pertaining to their financial future,” teacher Debbie Franz said.

Even if a student decides not to go to college, taking these classes can contribute to a student’s life after high school. “Personal Finance is important because it teaches real life skills we need daily,” senior Gary Nicholson said. “After high school, we have to deal with bills, loans, and all that tax stuff.” 

Taking these classes can be very beneficial to students, especially if they plan on majoring in business-related majors when attending college. “We don’t teach anything a student will not need to know as an adult,” Franz said. “Any business class is beneficial to students wishing to pursue college.”

In Business Foundations, students learn how to think in the business world from a producer’s point of view, rather than from a consumer’s perspective. “I absolutely think these courses will help me as I plan to major in Economics and need a very good business sense,” senior Alayna Meyer said.

“These classes go at a faster pace than traditional high school classes and are usually classes that weed out students who are unsure if they want to major in business,” Franz said. “Having some background experiences with these courses can be extremely beneficial.”

 “These classes provided me benefits because they have given me the knowledge and some real life experiences and examples as to what my possible career could look like in the future,” Meyer said.

Both Mr. Craig and Mrs. Franz prepare students for after high school by making their classes real-world and project-based. “In personal finance, we do budgeting activities, checking account simulations, and we play a stock market game like simulation,” Craig said. “Personal Finance has a couple of fun projects: budgeting a trip and keeping a checkbook,” Franz said.

Students appreciate how real the projects are. “We had to do a project about budgeting which gave me an idea about how much everything really does cost,” Meyer said. “We do projects on making a personal budget, planning for big purchases, and even investing in fake stocks,” Nicholson said. “The projects are hands-on and help us get ready to handle our finances.”

“In Business Foundations, students do a couple of fun projects,” Franz said. “They get to become entrepreneurs and start their own business. The students create logos and slogans, and they write business plans.

They also get to work on a marketing campaign where they help rebrand a product – orange juice. They create logos, slogans, labels for their products, promotions to generate business, magazine advertisements, and TV commercials. They present their campaign to the class with a persuasive argument telling why their campaign fits the brand best.”

Students learn real-life skills in business courses. “Just being exposed to new things and being able to learn can help make a student a much more well-rounded individuals,” Franz said.

“Economics is the study of choices that people make and why they make the choices they do with the resources that they have and everything resource is limited, time, money, whatever it is,” Craig said. “You have to make choices on how you use those resources, and it pertains to decision making.”

While Personal Finance is required, students are encouraged to take any business class. “Mrs. Franz and Mr. Craig do a great job of preparing students for the future and always pushing us to be better. I highly recommend all courses!” Meyer said.

“I encourage students to consider taking business classes. The jobs pay really well, and there’s just so many different areas of business you can get into,” Craig said. “If you are interested at all, just try out some classes in high school. It’s better to learn now than go to college and try majoring in something then deciding two years later that you don’t like it.”