PwC and Knowledge@Wharton High School Kick Off Fourth Financial Capability and Leadership Training Seminar for High School Educators

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16, 2014 /3BL Media/ – PwC US and Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS) today welcomed nearly 120 high school educators to the PwC-KWHS Seminar for High School Educators on Business and Financial Responsibility. The purpose of the biannual, three-day training seminar is to deepen educators’ subject-matter knowledge of how to effectively teach basic, yet critical, financial and leadership skills students will need to thrive. Taking place at Wharton | San Francisco, the west coast campus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the learning experience will serve as a valuable networking and idea-sharing opportunity for teachers looking to accelerate their students’ financial capability and business acumen. To date, the seminar has strengthened the financial literacy teaching skills of more than 500 educators across the United States.

Educators from 26 states will be present at the seminar, representing 11 of the 17 states that require personal finance as a high school graduation requirement, according to the Council for Economic Education.

The seminar features sessions, speakers, panels and discussions led by PwC leaders and Wharton professors, and includes a keynote address from Louisa Quittman, Director, Financial Education, U.S. Department of the Treasury. Topics to be addressed include:

·       Preparing students for professional success

·       Accounting basics

·       Industry trends and classroom ideas for venture capital and start-ups

·       Essential economic concepts

·       Helping students navigate their future

For the first time, the seminar will also feature an idea exchange, in which teachers can discuss their ideas for energizing financial literacy and business education in the classroom, exchange resources, and network.

“The learnings we glean from in-depth discussions with educators provide our firm with new ways to understand and help solve the financial literacy education crisis our country is facing,” said Jim Henry, PwC’s San Francisco managing partner. “These teachers are here by choice because they care about the prosperity of their students, and they prioritize the need for this education in their classrooms. I’m inspired by their commitment and know that this is a challenge our country can overcome if businesses do their part to prepare today’s students with the knowledge and skills they will need to prosper.”

“Financial education is crucial for empowering students to make responsible and informed fiscal decisions later in life,” says Mukul Pandya, executive director and editor-in-chief of Knowledge@Wharton. “PwC’s continued support and contributions allow us to return to reach a new round of educators with engaging and innovative methods of addressing financial literacy. We have created a powerful ripple effect; with each seminar, we are reaching more educators and by extension, more students.”

The PwC-KWHS seminar is an integral part of PwC’s Earn Your Future, a national, multi-year, $160 million commitment centered around two goals: helping students in grades K-12 develop critical financial skills, and providing educators with the resources and training to teach it. To date, the program has impacted more than 1.1 million students and educators, with PwC people volunteering more than 340,000 skilled hours. Available through PwC’s Earn Your Future are 41 curriculum modules available for immediate use.

Since its launch, KWHS has provided free, regularly updated materials for high school students and their teachers. The site, the first of its kind offered by a major university, offers articles, videos, lesson plans, simulations and numerous interactive tools.

For a full overview of the seminar, please visit the website.

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About the Wharton School and Knowledge @ Wharton

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates ongoing economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and a powerful alumni network of 92,000 graduates.

Knowledge@Wharton is the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  The site, which is free, captures relevant knowledge generated at Wharton and beyond by offering articles and videos based on research, conferences, speakers, books and interviews with faculty and other experts on global business topics.