By Erica Riggins
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Jeanna Dauphinee runs the Academy of Finance and Entrepreneurship at Brandon High School.
She spends her days making sure her students are “future ready,” leading them into the world of finance and business ownership.
Those efforts also made her this week’s A+ Teacher.
Dauphinee said it is important that her students have a real financial plan for their lives as they get ready to leave high school and head into the real world.
“They have to set their short, middle and long term goals,” she said. “They have to figure out what’s their career going to be when they get out of college.
“Are they going to have college loans they have to repay? Are they going to buy a car, what kind of car? Are they going to save for a house, vacations? Do they think they’ll be married, have kids yet? How much are they going to invest, insurance?”
Dauphinee teaches her students about personal finance and all the challenges that come with that.
Her curriculum includes budgeting, investing, insurance and banking.
But more important than business, she builds good relationships with her students and learns all about them.
“Get to know your students. To me that’s the biggest thing,” she said.
“A lot of times, they have things going on that you could not imagine, so the more you know and can interact and have some sympathy and empathy. I know a lot of students go through the same thing I went through when I was growing up, so when they know you care, it makes a big difference. They work harder.”