ALTON — The first of many weekly sessions teaching students life skills normally not taught in public school began Friday thanks to the Alton Police Department and a new program it introduced at Mission Collegiate High School.
The Life Skills program is designed to provide basic skills to high school juniors and seniors as they prepare for graduation and will continue for sophomore and freshman as they move up grade levels.
“We wanted to create a program where we can educate our youth and provide them with basic life skills as they prepare to go off into the world,” Alton Police Chief Jonathan Flores said. “We wanted to make sure that they had all the tools that they needed to succeed in life.”
Friday morning saw the first group of seniors and juniors in the school’s library as they were being taught how to be financially literate with lessons on credit scores, identify theft, loans and more.
The lesson was taught by Erika Sciaraffa, the Director of Training and Development at Lone Star National Bank, who partnered with Alton police to be a part of this program.
She opened the presentation with the “Don’t Buy Stuff” skit from Saturday Night Live to introduce them to the topic.
Ana Lisa Flores, principal of MCHS, was all smiles as she saw the students engaging with Sciaraffa as she spoke of credit card interest rates, something you’d normally never see being taught at the high school level.
“It’s very beneficial because parents send them out to college and they have to be responsible,” Ana Lisa Flores said. “They’re awarded a certain scholarship and we don’t want them to get into debt with student loans, so they have to manage their money financially.”
Alton police not only partnered with Lone Star National Bank but with other business community partners as well such as Dr. Ruben Piña from Piña & Acosta Psychology Associates who will be assisting with the social skills portion of the program.
Aside from money management and social skills, the program will also include employment skills, which will teach students how to prepare for a job interview, create resumes, time management, household skills, self-care skills and much more.
Flores, the police chief, said next week students will be taught automotive skills where they’ll learn how to use tools, change a tire and more taught by Espino Tires representatives, who are also partners in the program.
