A Classroom Built for Real Life: A New Model for Personal Finance Education in High School

On a weekday afternoon in Stamford, Connecticut, Jack, a Stamford High School junior juggling classes, hobbies and aspirations to open an auto restoration shop, steps into a room that feels more like a creative studio than a classroom.

A monitor lights up with the latest news. A stock ticker scrolls quietly across the wall. A bright yellow wall filled with thought-provoking questions, "If you found $500, how would you use it?," where students pin their responses below. There are games, books, and hands-on activities that make the lesson feel less like homework and more like solving a puzzle that happens to be his life.

"I'm really excited to see a big investment in this room," Jack said, "Makes it seem like the real world and feels like a real experience walking in here."

Just in time for Financial Literacy Month this April, Synchrony is helping Stamford High School teachers make financial literacy feel less like a lecture and more like a life skill. Last month, Synchrony opened a new Financial Literacy Lab at Stamford High School funding a classroom makeover that makes learning about personal finance more tangible. Synchrony partnered with Connecticut Financial Scholars (CTFS) on the Lab and provided a $150,000 Empowering Financial Futures grant to deliver professional financial education training and development to teachers, including those at Stamford High School.

Designed with teachers, built for students

The Lab was co-designed with Stamford High School's personal finance teachers, creating a vibrant, high-energy environment with resources that encourage participation:

• Stock tickers and monitors for real-time, real-world connections
• Whiteboards to make lessons interactive
• Games and books that turn abstract concepts into memorable moments

Get a behind-the-scenes look of the Lab being built here and level up your finances with our eBook Meeting Financial Milestones, which is also available to students in the Lab library.

This matters because more than 600 Stamford high school students will be required to take a personal finance course this year to graduate, as part of legislation (S.B. 1165) passed by the Connecticut Senate in 2023.

The Lab turned that requirement into an opportunity for Synchrony to help make personal finance education practical and engaging, so students are more likely to use it and carry it with them for life.

"We have community partners - Synchrony and Connecticut Financial Scholars who gifted us with this Literacy Lab," said Dr. Claudia Berlage, Assistant Director, Curriculum Instruction and Assessment, Stamford Public Schools. "Financial literacy is really important because it means that you understand what financial decisions involve, how financial decisions impact your life."

The $150,000 grant behind the scenes: training for teachers that meets teens where they are

Great spaces are powerful, but great teaching is the multiplier. Synchrony is providing funding to Connecticut Financial Scholars to support professional training for Stamford High School's personal finance teachers.

What that includes:

• 30 hours of paid teacher training
• Ongoing instructional coaching and implementation support
• Classroom visits and direct support from CTFS staff
• Customizable lesson plans built to resonate with high schoolers

Where it fits: Empowering Financial Futures, and a bigger bet on teachers

This Lab is part of Synchrony's Empowering Financial Futures philanthropic program, focused on supporting K-12 public school teachers who teach personal finance classes. Synchrony has committed a total of $3 million since the program launched last year. The program includes grants, in-kind donations, an employee-led Financial Literacy Service Corps, and strategic nonprofit partnerships to provide teachers, students, and communities with tools to make smarter financial decisions.

"When budgeting, savings and credit finally click for students, it's because a teacher made it possible," said Denise Yap, President of the Synchrony Foundation. "Our goal is to thoughtfully equip personal finance educators with the training, tools, and dedicated spaces they need, so they can help students enter into adulthood with the confidence and skills to make informed financial decisions that can shape their futures."

New grants announced this month, including the one to CTFS, will direct $1 million towards teacher development and training, classroom resources, and establishing Synchrony Financial Literacy Labs inside nine more public high schools near company offices across the country.

Synchrony's employee-led Financial Literacy Service Corps launched facilitator trainings this month and plans to deploy employee volunteers to guest teach in the newly opened Financial Literacy Labs in high schools and other partner organizations this fall bringing practical perspectives, local energy, and extra support to teachers and educators doing this essential work.

The bigger why: a stronger future that starts in the classroom

When students graduate understanding credit, budgeting, borrowing, and long-term planning, communities benefit too: more stability, more opportunity, and a stronger local economy powered by young adults who can achieve their financial goals.

And sometimes, it starts with something wonderfully simple: a classroom that feels like it was built for them.