Students visit the ‘real worlds' of banking and aeronautics

SUSSEX COUNTY-Would you like to learn to balance your checkbook? Or get your hands on a real jet engine? Those are some of the lessons Sussex Tech students learned on Thursday, March 10, when "real world" representatives of the aeronautics and banking industries gave them insight into the work they do. PNC Bank offered students from the clerical skills/office and business technologies department a financial lesson. The Air Force gave mechanics shop students a guided tour of a working jet engine. In Mrs. Nakonechny's Office and Business Technology class, students listened while Donna Nixon and Sandra Warner from PNC Bank showed them how to save money, open a checking and savings account, write a check, balance a checkbook, and establish credit. They learned how to search for banks offering the highest interest rates on savings accounts and the lowest rates for student loans,. "This is a good preparation for students after they graduate," said Mrs. Nakonechny. "They are already better equipped to make better financial decisions." Nixon and Warner advised the students to establish credit by applying for a credit card and then using the credit card sensibly. That means: when you buy something on a credit card, you need to save your money so when the bill arrives you can pay off everything you bought. They addressed other financial matters that will students will soon face: how to search for the lowest car loan, saving money for essentials, shopping wisely. "By offering the students this information, they can begin to understand now the importance of paying bills on time and using the checking account to pay for their own cell phone bills, which many students have," Nixon said. Gathered around the hum of a jet engine, shop teacher Doug Card and his students listened as Air Force Sergeants Mark Stromberg, Jose Calderen, and Brian Schulenberg explained the history of jet engines, and the different kinds and styles used on different planes. The students watched, touched, and listened intently. "This is pretty awesome," one student said. Stromberg, Calderen, and Schulenberg explained each intricate detail, from the smallest bolt to the biggest fans, showing how they all work together. "When you think about it a jet engine has a phenomenal job to perform, and to be able to encounter this first-hand is a real treat for the students," said Card. All the terminology associated with the engine might seem overwhelming to some, but not to these enthusiastic students. "This is a great experience," said Sergeant Stromberg. "What can be better than this, learning how to take apart and put together an engine of this magnitude knowing what this machine has to accomplish? It's a big diversion from the car and truck engines that students would normally work on."