Entering into the 2023-2024 school year, the state of Connecticut passed an act to require students to complete a single semester financial management course to graduate, starting with the graduating class of 2027. This legislation follows many other states carrying through with the same graduation requirements.

Based on the article Financial Literacy Added to High School Curriculum | Connecticut House Democrats, the act was passed with a vote of 138 to 12.

Prior to this legislation, thousands of students graduated from Connecticut schools without essential, foundational knowledge, fueling financial struggle among alumni. Junior Achievement USA states that 54% of the 1,000 students they surveyed felt unprepared to finance their futures. “In order for students to feel confident financially, it’s critical to equip them with the skills and knowledge to make sound financial decisions,” said Chris Ebeling, Head of Student Lending, Citizens. “Coming up with a strategy to pay for college can be daunting, but financially empowering students and families can help them for the rest of their lives,” said Ebeling in the April 06, 2022 post.

At The Morgan School, Personal Finance is taught by a 2004 Morgan graduate, Mr. Richetelli. Richetelli says risk and failure are necessary aspects of finance, going so far as to say “I usually like to let them fail” when asked how he teaches students to deal with the psychological aspects of finance.

Mr. Richetelli says that students should cover basic finance in middle school, so time is not wasted explaining the difference between a debit card and a credit card, or where to put the dollar sign. In his classes, success is defined as bouncing back from failure. “Wayne Gretzky, right? You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Yeah, he said that. Someone told me it was Michael Jordan, but they were way off.”

When asked what the most important lesson he hopes students keep 5–10 years after graduating, he says, “Perseverance and Patience.”

Mr. Richetelli had a recent experience with a graduate of The Morgan School from over 10 years ago. The student told Richetelli that his classes were among the few that he actually feels helped him in the real world, and now, working in insurance, he sees that these days many fresh graduates are naive to their insurance policies, and he recommended that Richetelli should cover insurance policies.

That student was not alone, as many graduates of The Morgan School agree that Richetelli’s classes were among the few that genuinely helped them prepare for the real world. “Mr. Richetelli’s business classes at Morgan played a significant role in preparing me for adulthood by offering practical, real‑world examples and skills I could apply immediately. These included learning how to write a check, understanding debit and credit transactions, and gaining insight into the foundational steps of starting a business. In my view, courses like these should be a requirement for all students before graduation. They provide valuable exposure to real‑life situations and help students find answers to questions they may be unsure of or hesitant to ask,” said Cameron LeClaire, a 2018 graduate of Morgan.

On top of the classes offered by Richetelli, many may also find the classes offered by Ms. Murphy, Morgan’s Culinary and Home Economics teacher, to be particularly helpful after graduation. While not a graduation requirement, the classes offer a variety of skills that are necessary for some professions.

Culinary class structures its curriculum by previewing and noting the recipe ahead of time because some lack the knowledge of different kinds of culinary techniques.

Many of Murphy’s students come to her without prior experience. Ms. Murphy says it is not particularly necessary to know how to do anything when taking Culinary I. “I try to have enough different kinds of labs, different kinds of cooking, where they learn different techniques.”

Ms. Murphy hopes that students leave with the basic cooking skills for healthier foods. “So when they go home to cook, which is part of the class, they have to do some of that. They’ll know that they can cook with whatever they have.”

Ms. Murphy believes industry trends are important to teaching these classes and tries to adapt her curriculum to fit these current trends. “We might change the way we do menus based on what is popular. Risotto is something that I’ve added to Culinary I because it is a big thing in restaurants right now…The same with design, the clothing design, and the interior design, we do some things come up every year that are brand new.”

Many sudden things can go wrong with cooking, and that is part of the learning process. “If we’re missing some kind of ingredients, or we run out of something unexpectedly, we talk about what could be used to substitute it.”

When things go wrong, like destroying a dish, she is more lenient if it’s a Culinary I class, and it is an accident. “But if it’s a more advanced group, and they weren’t really paying attention, then they’re going to lose some points and also learn from it,” Murphy says.

For students who want to go into a profession based on what they learned from culinary, Ms. Murphy teaches hazard analysis and critical control points. The culinary classes are preparing to take the ServSafe Food Handler Exam, which covers safety and sanitation. Because the kitchen also serves staff, it could be health-inspected at any time.

Murphy says that many students in her advanced classes will typically tell her if they are interested in pursuing cooking as a profession. Currently, Ms. Murphy also has a student who has an independent study who’s taken all her classes in the culinary area and is interested in going into a restaurant management career.

“Although I did not personally take the cooking classes at Morgan, many of my friends did, and they consistently spoke highly of their experiences. They appreciated the positive atmosphere and the strong sense of camaraderie that developed between the students and the teacher. I especially remember how much they enjoyed the creative elements of activities like “Cupcake Wars” and other friendly competitions held throughout the year. These opportunities allowed students to express their individuality and showcase their creativity in a supportive environment,” said LeClaire.