Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Hurley — After Hurley High School teacher Aaron Bender’s vehicle slid off icy U.S. 2 in Saxon early in the winter and plunged down an embankment near a bridge, he is using the experience in his personal finance class.
Bender told the Hurley School Board Monday students are learning how automobile insurance works following the scary personal injury accident that also involved his daughter.
Bender said it’s the fifth year that personal finance is being taught in the Hurley K-12 School and that met with a smile from school board president Joe Simonich, of Kimball, who has been a prime supporter of giving the students the education they need to cope with finances after graduation.
The students also learn about investing their earnings and were told recent graduates like James Sukkanen and Chris Rye are putting that knowledge to good use.
Current student Meghan Wiercinski said students are also being taught about the costs of purchasing a home or renting.
“I’m learning it’s much more expensive than I had thought,” she said. “It’s crazy how much more houses cost in the bigger cities,” she said.
Simonich cautioned the students that while they may earn more by moving to the cities, the cost of living may be much greater and a house can cost four times as much as on the Gogebic Range.
Also at Monday’s regular monthly school board meeting, elementary teacher Ronda Olkonen presented a demonstration of what fourth graders are accomplishing through Apple Classroom computer tools.
Students recently completed video presentations on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and countries where girls are physically tortured for the simple act of attending school.
Students are able to develop mathematics skills at individual, accelerated levels, Olkonen said. “They learn at their own pace,” she said.
Olkonen said the students’ use of technology often exceeds her own skills because they are learning so much so quickly.
