Shorecrest High School senior teaches financial literacy in local schools

Elizabeth Holmdahl
Shorecrest DECA

The President of Shorecrest High School DECA, Elizabeth Holmdahl, spent the past few years developing and launching the “Making Sense of Money” campaign to improve the financial literacy of students in Shoreline schools.

According to a 2013 youth financial literacy survey by Charles Schwab, only 32% of young adults understand credit card interest and fees, only 20% are familiar with 401(k) plans, and less than 30% of young adults have a basic knowledge of investing.

The “Making Sense of Money” campaign is designed to improve these statistics for teenagers and young adults in the Shoreline School District.

In developing her campaign, Elizabeth recognized three distinct target audiences and developed curriculums to meet their needs.

The first curriculum was created for high school students, the second for middle school students, and the final curriculum to educate fellow DECA club members to ensure the financial literacy program will continue when she leaves for college next year.

Curriculum resources were provided to local youth-focused organizations (the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs) with the intent of sharing the material with an even larger audience.

The campaign was sponsored by Pemco Insurance, the City of Shoreline, the City of Lake Forest Park, Lake Forest Park Rotary, Peterson Sullivan LLP, and the YMCA.

With the support of DECA Advisor Emily Wray and members of the Shorecrest DECA Club, Elizabeth presented “Making Sense of Money” at local schools through a series of lectures on topics such as writing a check, using insurance to minimize risk, establishing a savings account, paying taxes, budgeting effectively, and planning a career. She presented the material to more than 625 students throughout 2014 and 2015.

A thirty-page Financial Literacy Promotion Plan, which outlined her work to improve financial literacy, was presented to the judges at the Washington State DECA Career De-velopment Conference in March and was awarded First Place.

DECA Advisor Emily Wray stated that “Elizabeth has taken a financial epidemic in teenagers and young adults and created a curriculum that is easy to understand, very informative and approachable for students to achieve. 

Through her dedication to making finance a noteworthy topic, she has proven to be a professional, organized and powerful student lecturer who is highly regarded amongst her peers. The Shorecrest DECA Chapter has enjoyed watching her presentations grow with each target audience.”

The “Making Sense of Money” program continues this year. With increased use of technology in her presentations and refinements to the curriculum, Elizabeth will present the program to an additional 1,500 students in 2016.

Elizabeth is enthusiastic about the success of the program and has received positive comments from students who have attended her presentations.

According to Shorecrest DECA Fundraising Coordinator, Evietta Chapman, “The presentations have been a big hit with the students. They are really engaged and interested in what Elizabeth has to say about personal finance.”

Elizabeth is proud to have been a key player in improving financial literacy in the Shoreline School District and intends to start a similar program in college.

DECA is an international organization which prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Washington State DECA reports that nearly 12,000 high school students in our state participate in DECA clubs. Washington DECA is the third-largest program in the United States.