“I can’t afford to buy a new pair of jeans every month. I can get by with four per year.”
That’s the realization one of Gina Sanders’ Success 101 students came to after completing Chapter 4 of Career Choices, and it’s a surprisingly grounded statement for an 8th grade student to make.
Every 8th grade student in McDade, Texas, is taking part in the year-long Career Choices curriculum. In her 24th year of teaching, Ms. Sanders bubbles enthusiastically about her students. “They get it...and they get it quickly.”
The parents of Gina’s 19 Success 101 students have also been extremely complimentary and supportive of the course, and they see the difference it is making already, especially when their son or daughter has a new understanding of the value of money.
McDade Independent School District Principal Deanna Olson and Superintendent Barbara Marchbanks attended a one-day Career Choices workshop in San Antonio. Upon their return to McDade, they immediately recruited Ms. Sanders to head up the program. “Everything I have asked for I’ve gotten,” Ms. Sanders shared when discussing the support of her administrators.
“The Teachers’ Lounge has been particularly helpful,” says Ms. Sanders referring to the curriculum and technical support she has received from Academic Innovations, the publisher of Career Choices.
“This curriculum reallydoes bring the real world to the classroom. As far as I’m concerned, this is the real heart of the program. The checkbook management portion of the class wakes everyone up. I love it,” exclaimed Ms. Sanders.