Schut’s business classes prepare students for life

Not all subjects teach skills that are going to be used life long, but signing up for business teacher Phil Schut’s personal finance class will leave anyone with what is needed to know about money management. In room E109, many are discovering how important it is to start maintaining finances and saving for the future.

Schut is a new teacher to the school and he is preparing those who make the decision to take up his personal finance and intro to business classes as their electives. Not many students are choosing to get the head start in life he provides. Looking specifically at his personal finance class, it mainly teaches how to save enough money to start a more prepared future and afford any expected and unexpected expenses in the near and distant future.

The class has motivated many students to take the first steps and plan out how they are going to make a budget and save their money, and even look into future career possibilities.

“It has gotten me smarter in life. To know what I want to do in life,” junior Nick Haggard said.

Since the class teaches about saving money and affording important things in the future, most students tend to end up with less debt and more money when enrolling in this class rather than avoiding it.

“Basically it just prepares you for life,” junior Tyler Banks said. “It’s something you need for the rest of your life to be successful. It teaches you how to save [money], and in case something happens, you’ll be prepared for it.”

Looking deeper into the personal finance class, money management, saving, credit, investing and insurance are covered. Spending around a couple of weeks at a time on each unit, enough time is given to really understand what is going on.

“I try to go into a lot of things that are relevant,” Schut said. “[Topics] that I know they are going to encounter whether they like it or not.”

He provides the class with many resources and visuals to pair with his teachings such as loan interest calculators and Powerpoint slides filled with class notes. There are even games simulating stock market investing, such as Marketwatch.

“[Schut is] very organized. He knows what he’s doing,” Banks said. “He knows how to teach, one of my favorite teachers.”

On a personal level, business is something Schut has been interested in since his high school years, but he did not know he wanted be a teacher until his sophomore year in college. He always had a desire to help others to get where they are going and see what they are capable of, so naturally, he combined his two affections into business education.

“I got into business education because there’s so many different topics,” Schut said. “There’s so many things like personal finance that affect us everyday. Personal finance is something I’ve had my ups and downs with.”

Managing a class as a new teacher will come with difficulties and flaws, and Schut hopes to improve his class for future students to come through with a better, more full experience. He loves the rewarding feeling that comes with the opportunity of educating teenagers.

“It’s just fun. It’s fun to work with the students, and it’s fun to explore different scenarios,” Schut said. “It’s kind of just a fun, challenging, every-day-is-interesting environment to work in.”