Connecticut high schools have a new job. Under a 2023 state law, every student in the class of 2027 and beyond has to pass a personal finance course before graduating.
Two years ago, a proposal landed on Principal Forker’s desk. It came from Connecticut Financial Scholars, a nonprofit that works to bring financial literacy into the state’s high schools. Forker passed it to Dorothea Mackey, head of SHS’s Career and Technical Education department, and asked her to take a look. Mackey came back with a clear recommendation: “I said this is a win-win. There is no reason not to get involved with this organization.”
Two years later, Room A250 is Stamford High’s new Financial Literacy Lab, the first of ten Synchrony-funded labs planned nationwide.
Once SHS signed on, CTFS introduced Mackey to Synchrony Bank, the financial services company headquartered in Stamford, which wanted to fund a dedicated space. The school already had the programs: a personal finance elective, an investments class, and a broader business department that Mackey said was ready to grow. What it didn’t have was a room to pull it all together.
Mackey wanted students to use the room, not just pass through.
“I wanted the kids to sit there, and utilize something that they can then use a couple years down the road in real time,” Mackey said. “It’s important to sit down and think about the future, and think about how much money you’re going to have.”
That vision extends beyond individual study. Before the renovation, A250 was a shared office for three business teachers. Now it’s a space where students can congregate and freely bounce ideas off of one another.
“It matters for them to gather, talk, interact, and just be able to talk to different business teachers who might be in there,” Mackey said.
What she notices most is the kind of conversations that start there.
“I think to myself, ‘that’s a good, safe space to talk about things,’” Mackey said. “It starts with business conversation, and it might end with asking a particular adult for advice. ‘What do you think I should do? What do you think I should invest in? Major in?’ It’s a safe space, kids are comfortable sitting there, just plugged in.”
The lab isn’t the endpoint. On May 5, SHS will host a Financial Literacy Fair in partnership with Members Credit Union, another community partner CTFS connected the school with. Members Credit Union offers savings accounts to students.
Mackey also wants students to see that business education isn’t just for students headed into finance or management consulting. Business is an incredibly popular major, and the skills it teaches apply to almost every career.
“If you go on to be a doctor, you run an office. Lawyer, business owner, author, you have to manage certain things,” Mackey said. “Business opens up the door to every single career.”