In a culmination of financial literacy classes and visits throughout the year, Pilgrim High School held its first-ever Financial Education Fair on Wednesday morning, welcoming state officials and financial officers alike to the school.

Multiple state officials were in attendance, including Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, Secretary of State Gregg Amore and Treasurer James Diossa. The school also received a proclamation from Mayor Frank Picozzi recognizing the date as Pilgrim High School Student Financial Literacy Day.

According to business teacher Michelle Rafferty, the fair came together through meetings with Wave Credit Union, the event’s sponsor.

“They proposed this partnership there,” Rafferty said. “Their staff came in a series of five speaking engagements in the classroom and they talked about budgeting, talked about cars, talked about insurance. They talked about all the financial literacy units that we’re covering in class, and they gave it an outside perspective, which is excellent for the students.”

Students participating in the fair came from four different classes, according to Rafferty, and ranged from sophomores to seniors.

Matos told students that she did not receive financial education growing up in the Dominican Republic, and that when she came to the United States, she wished that she had more knowledge about finances.

“It’s so important to understand what you’re signing onto,” Matos said. “Take the time today to learn about all the financial challenges that you may face, and make sure that you get the information that’s going to help you make informed choices when it comes to your finances. Some of the decisions that you make at this early age is going to follow you throughout your career.”

A former history teacher at East Providence High School, Amore pointed to some of his old lessons to tell students that the financial information they were learning was something that would apply throughout students’ lives.

“It was hard to make the Spanish-American War exciting,” Amore said. “I could read the faces of my students, ‘Oh my God, I have to know this?’ Well, this is a situation where this knowledge is incredibly valuable and incredibly important.”

David Dupéré, Wave Credit Union’s president and CEO, said that helping teach students about financial responsibility was something that Wave was happy to do.

Both Dupéré and Rafferty said that the day fully lived up to their expectations, and would give students a foundation of financial knowledge to rely on.

“So many of us, when we were younger, we didn’t get that opportunity where somebody really sat down with us and said ‘Here’s a budget, here’s your income, what rent is.’ We’re giving them knowledge that will really help with their day-to-day lives.”

Student feedback from Wave’s visits was excellent, according to Rafferty, and the day’s events helped students understand how much they would make and how they would have to live in their dream careers.

As for what Rafferty hopes students took away from the event and her lessons throughout the year, the teacher said that while every lesson was important enough to remember, being able to maintain a budget and a credit score were crucial to understand.

“However much they’re earning in net income, they have to be able to sustain a lifestyle that does not exceed their income and go into debt,” Rafferty said. “And if [students] do not have a great credit score, everything else they’re going to have to pay extra for.”