On Thursday, December 4th, 2008, members of Babcock’s Finance Club participated in the second session of the Financial Literacy Program at the Reynolds Park Community Center in Winston-Salem. The Financial Literacy Program is a community service opportunity provided by the Finance Club in which Babcock students work with youth currently in the foster care system to help prepare them for life after leaving the system. Last year the Financial Literacy Program held two sessions with this group of 14 – 19 year olds. Topics covered were mainly financial and included balancing checkbooks and understanding credit card applications. This year the program has expanded to include six sessions and covers such topics as goal setting, career skills, and credit and debt management skills.
Thursday’s session introduced communication using the DASR method. Participants learned how to apply the DASR method in various situations such as work and school settings and then practiced the method using role-playing and follow-up discussion. First-year Eugene Young said that learning the DASR method is “something that we can all use. Learning how to give feedback is something we can all do better.” October’s session covered goal setting and career planning with the objective of getting the youth to think big and then break down their goals into manageable steps. Babcock first-year student Vaishali Shah worked with a young man who discovered that he can turn his passion for car design into a career. Vaishali commented that, “It was amazing to see how excited he was about this possibility!”
Other Babcock participants included: Daniel Adler, Daniel Beaudry, Colin Cheek, David Council, Katharina Haynes, Mark Henderson, Allison Kretovic, Rob Nash, Katie Pierucci, and Candace Wilson. There are four sessions remaining in the program, which will culminate with a graduation ceremony for the program participants in Spring 2009.