Because of her initial involvement in the Jump $tart Financial Education Coalition, an organization that works to financially educate and prepare the nation’s youth, Mrs. Cyndi Hurley, Business, earned a prestigious opportunity.

Mrs. Hurley was invited to attend the First Annual Meeting of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, which was held at the White House in Washington, D.C.

“The purpose of the meeting was to present the findings from the committee and chart a course of action to meet the educational/financial needs of young Americans. President Obama was to be there, but due to the Ukrainian president being in D.C., he sent Valerie Jarrett in his place. She is the most senior advisor to the president. Committee members also included the CEO of VISA, the CEO of the Girl Scouts, the President of Davidson College, the CEO of Jump $tart, the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and the US Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob Lew, as well as approximately eight other national leaders in different areas of expertise,” Mrs. Hurley said.

In addition to the prestigious members in attendance, shocking statistics were exposed at the meeting, such as that 25 percent of Americans under the age of 30 are spending more than they are earning. This calls for nationwide action regarding financial education in the PK-12 grades, which Mrs. Hurley had the ability to partake in.

“Young Americans’ credit scores are not good. Thus, they cannot get loans at banks and credit unions. They have to use other sources where interest rates are much higher. It also affects whether they can find a job or not due to their poor credit scores,” Mrs. Hurley said.

Change in education is crucial, considering financial literacy will become part of the changes in the new SAT.

“I did feel very good that we are ahead of the federal curve at LCHS by requiring PFR [Personal Finance Responsibility] for graduation. This is definitely going to be federally mandated at the national level in the near future. The units we currently teach in PFR are right on target: higher education, budgeting, taxes, banking, investing, credit and insurance. After attending the meeting, I felt very positive about our high school PFR course at LC. We just need to work on curriculum for elementary and middle school teachers. I really appreciate the school approving me to go. It was a very valuable experience,” Mrs Hurley said.