Jackson Free Press

Students at Forest Hill High School got a leg up on some of their peers for a skill that seems to grow more important every day--understanding financial stability and how to achieve it.

A large portion of Forest Hill's student body participated in a statewide financial literacy initiative, an online class sponsored by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi. The non-profit organization has distributed $7.2 million to 200 charitable organizations over the past seven years.

A ceremony at Forest Hill Wednesday honored those who completed the class with certificates of achievement.

Speakers at the event included Tom Pittman, director of CFNM, Debra Mays-Jackson, principal at Forest Hill, and Robert Mack, curriculum director of Jackson Public Schools.

"In today's global economy, we have an even greater need for financial literacy," Mack said. "If we are going to make an economically competitive nation, it is imperative for young people to understand how the economy works and how to achieve financial security in their own lives."

Pittman, a native Mississippian who also serves on the board of Directors for Entergy Mississippi, lived in the Forest Hill school district in first and second grade.

"We did (this) project at Hernando High School for one semester," Pittman said. "When I went to interview the students who'd gone through it, the most impressive testimony I got was one senior in high school who said: 'I wish two of my buddies had gone through this program. They didn't think they could afford to go to college. Therefore, they'd signed up for the military, which they really didn't want to do. They wanted to go to college. If they'd gone through this program, they'd have known that they could have afforded to go to college.'"

After the pilot program at Hernando, Pittman said student and teacher feedback was so good that CFNM was excited to help bring it to schools across the state.

In Quitman County, students started an after-school store and a snow-cone hut at the local baseball field after completing the program, Pittman said. One student there is currently in national competition for an entrepreneurial business plan he created.

"(This) is real people using something to better their lives," Pittman said. "If you don't learn about taxes, insurance, credit scores and all that sort of stuff, it can really derail whatever you want to try to accomplish in life."

For information contact CMNF at 662-449-5002.