FknKraze
January 4th, 2011, 11:31 PM
Two students at Kingston Collegiate have created a website aimed at promoting financial literacy among young people.
"Youth kind of don't have that knowledge of being able to manage their money," said Malak Elbatarny, one of the students behind the project.
That's why, Elbatarny said, she and classmate Rachel Gunn decided to design the website as part of an assignment for their senior business class to create some form of financial literacy campaign. Elbatarny said they decided on the youth focus because they believe teens are in the greatest need of an accessible financial tool.
"You need to learn at a very young age to be able to successfully apply (financial literacy)," said Elbatarny. The site is cashsmart-smart-saving. blogspot.com,and it features articles on everything from budgeting to investing to debt management.
The key, said Elbatarny, is on making it clear and interesting.
"People won't be interested and engaged if they're bored," she said.
One posting, which teases a coming article explaining finance through cartoons, comically compares a teenager's attention span to that of a hamster. The site also uses more casual language and slang to try and relate to a teenage audience.
The project has been a great success, Elbatarny said. She and Gunn recently took their project to StreetSmart, an alternative school program, for a presentation. Many of the students in the program are forced to be more financially independent because of difficult family circumstances, said Elbatarny.
By bringing the website to them, Elbatarny and Gunn believe they are able to help their fellow students get their lives on track early.
"I think we were really able to get through to them," said Elbatamy
f people don't learn money management techniques early, she said, they may not be able to avoid unmanageable debt or a poor credit rating.And the two say they aren't done yet. They plan to take their project to the a business competition in Toronto, where they hope to promote the website as a resource that makes personal finance easy for everyone.
"Anyone could go on (the site) and get something out of it," said Elbatarny.http://gallery.thewhig.com/cache/derivative/9/0/909852.dat
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2913872
"Youth kind of don't have that knowledge of being able to manage their money," said Malak Elbatarny, one of the students behind the project.
That's why, Elbatarny said, she and classmate Rachel Gunn decided to design the website as part of an assignment for their senior business class to create some form of financial literacy campaign. Elbatarny said they decided on the youth focus because they believe teens are in the greatest need of an accessible financial tool.
"You need to learn at a very young age to be able to successfully apply (financial literacy)," said Elbatarny. The site is cashsmart-smart-saving. blogspot.com,and it features articles on everything from budgeting to investing to debt management.
The key, said Elbatarny, is on making it clear and interesting.
"People won't be interested and engaged if they're bored," she said.
One posting, which teases a coming article explaining finance through cartoons, comically compares a teenager's attention span to that of a hamster. The site also uses more casual language and slang to try and relate to a teenage audience.
The project has been a great success, Elbatarny said. She and Gunn recently took their project to StreetSmart, an alternative school program, for a presentation. Many of the students in the program are forced to be more financially independent because of difficult family circumstances, said Elbatarny.
By bringing the website to them, Elbatarny and Gunn believe they are able to help their fellow students get their lives on track early.
"I think we were really able to get through to them," said Elbatamy
f people don't learn money management techniques early, she said, they may not be able to avoid unmanageable debt or a poor credit rating.And the two say they aren't done yet. They plan to take their project to the a business competition in Toronto, where they hope to promote the website as a resource that makes personal finance easy for everyone.
"Anyone could go on (the site) and get something out of it," said Elbatarny.http://gallery.thewhig.com/cache/derivative/9/0/909852.dat
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2913872