Starting in the fall semester of the 2023-24 school year, KO will be offering a new course titled “Introduction to Finance.” Taught by math teacher Sandi Goss, the class will include topics such as investing, economic theory, financial analysis, and so much more.
Over the past few years, Ms. Goss, along with students and administrators such as Head of School Tom Dillow and Head of the Upper School Dan Gleason, has been discussing the possibility of offering a course like this. “We really wanted to give some background on finance as an option for our kids before they leave and enter the real world,” Ms. Goss said.
There are already a few clubs at KO focused on business and with such a high level of interest, Ms. Goss knew that she needed to create a class centered around business and finance-related topics. She is still whittling down the options, as Ms. Goss says she wants to work the class down to a couple of major categories.
“At the moment, I have way too many topics,” she said, “so obviously I have to scale it down.” Some of the topics she is currently debating are stocks, balance sheets, managing credit cards and checkbooks, and loans.
Although she was expecting strong interest in the class, she definitely was not anticipating the sheer number of students who signed up. “We actually had to run two sections of it, which we weren’t anticipating,” Ms. Goss said. The class will now be offered in both the fall and spring semesters.
Ms. Goss has already set goals regarding what she hopes students will take away from the course. “One of my biggest hopes is that they realize that starting young is key,” she said. Along with that, she wants students to gain a better understanding of how to make smarter financial decisions, whether that be when buying a car or house, looking at colleges, or even looking at career paths and their future.
Ms. Goss is very excited and eager to teach this class, and she anticipates bringing in many guest speakers to talk about how finance plays into their day-to-day lives and jobs. She plans on spending lots of time over the summer fine-tuning the class to make it the best she possibly can for all of those interested!
