Mr. William Carangelo is spearheading a glorious quest to institute his personal finance class as a graduation requirement; Carangelo has been working with a state consultant in order to accomplish this goal.

   “This class is very important to me because I feel everyone should have some skill in handling money,” said Carangelo.

   One of his main reasons for trying to reach this goal is the current economic recession.

   “I feel that if some people had taken some sort of personal finance class in high school, then our economy might be a little different right now,” he stated.

   The American economy has been in a deep recession since late 2008. The economy has declined due to poor financial decisions by the American people and banks.

   “People were borrowing money based on unsound financial decisions, taking out loans and buying houses, even after losing their secondary or even primary income,” he said. 

   Due to fluctuating values of the economy, the American banks had to lower their qualifications for these loans which allowed people with bad credit to take the loan out or buy the house.  

   Carangelo hopes this class will have a large impact on students in the school. This class will only be offered to juniors and seniors because of the positive influence it will have on their decision making.

   “Juniors and seniors are starting to drive, get jobs, credit cards, and they are going to need to know how to make [good] financial decisions,” said Carangelo.

   He also says that once students become juniors and seniors, parents start helping their child look for colleges to enroll in. This may cause them to apply for student loans, grants, and scholarships.

   Carangelo believes that if that student takes the personal finance course, they will make a better choice of what loans, scholarships, and grants they wish to recieve.

   The course would be half a semester in length and students would choose to attend either the first or second semester.

   Even though the class is optional right now, Carangelo still has two completely full classes.

   This plan is only in the very early planning stages right now, as it will still have to be brought to the Board of Education.

      “I would love it if we could get it approved, not only for the benefit of our school, but in the hopes that schools around the state will follow our example,” said Carangelo.