BREMERTON, Wash. — Cathy Brorson, Outreach Coordinator at Kitsap Credit Union, loves reading comments from high school students who take the financial literacy classes she coordinates with local teachers.
“Probably one of the most touching to me is this one,” Brorson read it aloud: “This made very scary and adult things understandable, even for kids who don’t have anyone else to explain life to them.”
Kitsap Credit Union offers online financial literacy classes for free to local high schools. They teach topics kids might not learn at home, and kids come away with a certification they can add to a resume.
"In a lot of families money is a taboo subject, we just don’t talk about finances with our kids, which is a shame, because they really need that exposure,” Brorson explained.
Lisa Egenes, a home sciences teacher, has seen the classes' impact on her students at Tacoma's Lincoln High School.
“Kitsap Credit Union and Cathy have been amazing supporters for our students here at Lincoln,” Egenes said. “I think it really helps with the base knowledge, of what they need to move out, and be independent and really understand the fast changing world around them.”
The classes tackle topics like credit cards, insurance, interest rates, and investing. There's even a section about filling out a FAFSA form to get financial aid.
Sometimes this program will even kick off a career.
“We have employees that are here at the credit union because they took that class, and it was life changing for them,” Brorson said.
2022 grad Colin Freeze took the classes — now he works in customer service at the credit union.
“It all just came together and it felt like a perfect fit for me at the time," Freeze said. "It was interesting to see how I learned so much from this program and now I’m able to further it into the members of the company and talk to them about what I learned so that they can learn too. It is really fulfilling.”
Educating high schoolers about money is one investment where a payoff is guaranteed.
“What we're seeing through this program is after they've taken it, they're taking it home to their parents, sharing that information, and now together they're sitting down with their family and budgeting, they're saving, they're starting to invest,” Brorson said.
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