Article written by Ainsley Hall and published in The Journal on April 17, 2026, link to article HERE.
Martinsburg High School students visited Berkeley Heights Elementary School to teach students about financial literacy on April 14. As part of the Jumpstart Teen Teach-In program, part of Financial Literacy Month, students split into groups to talk with several classes and teach the basics of saving and spending money.
This year was the second time the financial literacy class visited Berkeley Heights Elementary. Led by Martinsburg High School teacher Chad Thompson, this experience gives high school student the chance to interact with younger kids and learn how to connect with others in a teaching role. Thompson believes it’s an important opportunity for students to better understand what they’ve learned in class.
“I feel like it gives students the opportunity to teach what they’ve been taught in school,” Thompson said. “It gives them experience and helps them show what they’ve learned as they reframe it for elementary students.”
Each group started by reading a book called “Something Good” by Robert Munsch which tells a story of a girl named Tyya who goes grocery shopping with her dad. Students used the story to teach kids the differences between needs and wants and explained that because money is a limited resource, sometimes people must make a choice to buy what they really need. Anna MacKinnon, Hailey Kackley and Claire Stafford played a game with their classroom, challenging them to pick between two items and decide which one was a want and which one was a need.
“We want them to understand wants versus needs so when their parents say no, they know it’s not because they don’t want to get them a toy or special treat,” MacKinnon said. “It’s because they are trying to do the best thing for them.”
MacKinnon said that she hopes to become an elementary school teacher in the future, so having the opportunity to talk with young kids and interact with them was a great way to get experience and made her more certain that she wants to be a teacher. Kackley said it made her feel more confident as a public speaker. It helped her develop skills that will help her in the future.
However, their favorite part was seeing the kids light up and getting excited just to hear from the teens. MacKinnon said that she remembers looking up to high schoolers when she was a kid. Standing in that position now and hearing from the students made teaching a fun experience.