Students in Hailey Misurda's Career and Financial Management class at John C. Birdlebough High School recently had an eye-opening experience on the importance of budgeting, thanks to a hands-on exercise led by Kristin Thompson Henry, a community impact officer at Empower Federal Credit Union.

Thompson Henry discussed various budgeting strategies and led an interactive session focused on helping students understand the difference between needs and wants, and how to manage finances to stay within a budget while also saving.

The students were divided into "families" and assigned different real-world scenarios, with income and basic expenses. They were tasked with making decisions to stay within their budget while still being able to save and contribute to charity.

“While they didn’t have to perform detailed calculations, the exercise revealed what they would need to adjust or give up in order to meet a zero-based budget — where income minus expenses and savings equals zero,” Misurda said. “It really gave students a firsthand understanding of how challenging it can be to balance expenses, prioritize needs, and still have money left for savings and charitable giving.”

Many students left with a greater appreciation of the financial decisions they and their families will face in the future.

Misurda noted she was grateful to Thompson Henry and Empower FCU for their partnership and expertise.