Making a Difference in Early Financial Education: The W. A. Franke College of Business puts on Two-Day Financial Boot Camp for Flagstaff High School Students
This past year has been filled with unforeseen challenges and called for a heightened level of perseverance and passion from those wanting to make a difference. Many passionate, experienced professionals have still been able to make a positive impact utilizing their expertise and community building: Nancy Baca, Senior Lecturer of Economics in The W. A. Franke College of Business, performed such an exceptional feat. With the help of several other passionate educators, Baca developed and executed a two-day personal financial boot camp this summer for incoming high school seniors.
This summer, 25 Flagstaff high school students were able to participate in the first “Personal Financial Boot Camp,” where they received workshops on topics such as savings, investing, how to read a pay stub, taxes, and more!
Danielle Bonfig, the Arizona Council on Economic Education 2021 Economic Teacher of the Year, worked with Baca to help with marketing and outreach for the program.
“Danielle and I have been dreaming about this potential program for years. We met over the summer, and we thought we could do it before school came back in session,” Baca said.
In addition to the many financial-based workshops presented by the Franke Finance and Economics professors, the boot camp featured a guest speaker from Wells Fargo Bank and an NAU admission speaker. Kevin Aguas, Associate Professor of Practice in The W. A. Franke College of Business also presented during the boot camp as a service component for his work with NAU’s Economic Policy Institute.
The W. A. Franke College of Business and NAU funded the program, providing students with the necessary tools, fuel, and materials to complete the boot camp successfully. Breakfast and lunch were provided for the visiting students, and the workshops were given in The W.A. Franke College of Business classrooms, giving them a glimpse into a university setting. On the second day of the boot camp, the students were taken to the Hotspot and walked the grounds.
“The W.A. Franke College of Business Deans and their staff are phenomenal. This important program couldn’t have happened without their enthusiasm and support,” Baca said.
In addition to the knowledge and invaluable experience of the boot camp, students also received a certificate for completion. With the successful completion in the rear-view mirror, Baca notes the biggest challenge was timeframe: five weeks was the time available to put this boot camp together. It had to happen before students came back for school, marketing needed to be developed and shared to attract student buy-in, and students needed to commit to spending 10 hours learning about financial fitness. Baca is already entertaining ambitious ideas for the next iteration of the camp, including larger enrollment, more varied topics for the workshops, more guest speakers, more faculty involved regardless of specialty, and more community members. Tailoring the content even more to the specific student demographic is another future goal. With devoted volunteers from NAU, the Flagstaff high school system, and the Arizona Council on Economic Education, Baca’s goals for the program are set up for success and the program is in good hands.
