During its three years of existence, the Personal Financial Management course, commonly referred to as Personal Finance, has gained such popularity that math teachers Sarah White, Stacy Delmhorst and Trudy Denton are working together to create a second level of the class. Personal Finance, which is a semester long course, will be a prerequisite for the new advanced course. This new class will also be entirely iPad driven.

Staples recently received a $17, 000 dollar grant from the State Department of Career and Vocational Education to work on developing another level of personal finance. According to White, this course is only in the early planning stages. White and a few of her colleagues will be attending a conference in Chicago to get ideas for directing and conducting the class.

The teachers have established that iPads will replace textbooks and worksheets in the new course. They will serve as educational tools, giving learning and information acquisition a whole new depth. For example, during a stock market unit, students will be able to observe and monitor the stocks on their iPads. This is something that would not be possible in today’s Personal Finance course.

Ashley Hyun ’13, currently in White’s period 7 Personal Finance class, believes that the new technology would put a “cool spin” on the class and would also be environmentally friendly.

“We get lots of worksheets in class and using iPads as tools for learning would definitely decrease how much paper we use,” Hyun said. “It would also be super awesome to be using iPads in school.”

According to White, the idea for the course stemmed from the popularity of the finance course and the fact that there is so much information to cover in just one semester.

“There has definitely been student interest in having a second semester course,” White said.

Brittany Silver ’14 is interested in taking the iPad-driven course.

“I definitely think that iPads would bring a new level of fun to learning,” Silver said. “I will absolutely be taking the personal finance course next year because it sounds like a totally useful course.”

White encourages students to take it while they are at Staples.

“This course provides students with the education and knowledge to make good financial decisions in the future,” White said. “We teach students real world knowledge that will allow them to become informed consumers. Essentially, we are giving the students the tools and techniques they need to know for college.”