Wausa students among top in the nation on w!se chart
Mark Mahoney
Wausa Gazette
WAUSA — Wausa Public Schools has earned a spot on the “100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance” national rankings.
These rankings were released by Working in Support of Education (w!se), a New York City-based educational not-for-profit focused on promoting student financial literacy nationwide, and sponsored by Voya Financial.
This means that Wausa students performed among the highest in the entire country on the w!se standardized Financial Literacy Certification Test.
The students who earned this award are the personal finance seniors from Wausa’s Class of 2021: Garrett Hegge, Cameron Kahlo, Jaide Kaiser, Kim Kienow, Morgan Kleinschmit, Brooke Kumm, Charlie Price, Clara Schindler, Cory Schumacher and Kaitlyn Walton.
The awards ceremony was hosted virtually on April 25. Wausa received 28th place in the nation. The school district will receive a banner to put on display.
This year also marked the 10th anniversary of the awards. Wausa was included in the top 10 schools who were recognized for placing the most in the top 10. Other states in this category other than Nebraska included New Jersey, New York, Utah and Virginia.
Wausa business education instructor Dawn Friedrich’s personal finance class has been participating in the w!se program since 2011. This class is offered primarily for seniors.
Personal finance has not been a required course at Wausa, but most seniors do enroll. Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, this course will be required in order to meet graduation requirements.
By incorporating this award-winning program, Wausa’s students have been empowered to take control of their future and ensure they are able to achieve financial well-being.
Friedrich noted finding ways to address the chronic lack of financial literacy among young people is of the utmost importance.
Helping students understand risks and how to make good financial decisions regarding their finances are critical life skills.
Friedrich said she hopes these skills have a positive long-term effect by assisting young people in making healthy financial choices today that will ultimately help close the U.S. retirement savings gap in the future.
