Dr. Malaika Syphertt, with student Elizabeth Ushi
Teacher and 12th Grade Team Leader
Booker T. Washington High School, Atlanta, Georgia
Setting goals, making good choices and doing your homework — those are great guidelines, not only for high school success but also for making sound financial decisions throughout life. At Atlanta's historic Booker T. Washington High School, Dr. Malaika Syphertt's students in the Regions Financial Scholars program are gaining a wealth of personal finance knowledge through their engagement with the Regions-sponsored Financial Education program developed by EverFi.
The online learning platform leverages leading-edge technology from EverFi, like 3-D gaming, videos, avatars and social networking, to bring complex financial concepts to life for the wired generation. Regions is proud to provide support for its deployment at high schools and colleges in eight states of Regions' footprint. So far in the 2013–14 school year, more than 3,000 high school and university students have been certified in the Financial Education program.
"The online program is extremely effective, and I use it to supplement my classroom instruction," said Dr. Syphertt. "It's good for differentiation and individualized work, and my students are constantly being assessed before they go on to the next module. It's awesome because they can do it in class, they can do it at home, they can do it on their smartphones or electronic devices, and it is really exciting and they all love it."
"Financial literacy is very important for these students because they're about to graduate and enter adulthood. The Financial Education program that Regions supports is extremely effective in providing them the information they need to be successful in life."
Senior Kadeeja Taylor is one of the many Washington High students benefiting from the program. Kadeeja, who hopes to attend Emory University, observed, "My favorite topic was budgeting, because I know in college you don't have an excess amount of money to spend. I think this will help me be able to budget and actually make it through college and not have to struggle."
Dr. Syphertt says it's rewarding to know the benefits to these students can last a lifetime. "It's very important that they understand financial terminology before they make mistakes like getting into bad debt or making bad financial decisions. They're learning that they should start saving now and establishing themselves financially in terms of credit and savings. It's just beautiful to see them grow and develop into successful citizens."