by RTSWS | Jun 5, 2018 | Uncategorized
A teacher, seemingly standing on the side lines, steps out in front of a group of girls who are distracted by their phones and each other.
She points to a table set up on the opposite side of the school hall and says, “You all should go talk with those ladies. It is a group you would like…I wish they had it when I was in school.“
The students look at each other first, hesitate a moment, then head to our “Rock The Street, Wall Street” registration table.
This teacher, like many others before her, has just changed the college, career and life trajectory of these students!
The opportunity was there—we were there—and the teacher took the girls’ whirling, formative, capable minds and pointed them to something new instead of clinging to what they do everyday and turned their heads to the M of STEM, finance.
At Rock The Street, Wall Street, we call these change agents our “School Champions” and we’re FANATICAL about them. They:
- Recruit students to our program
- Liaison between their schools and our financial classroom volunteers
- Join us on field trips with RTSWS students to local financial institutions
- Report to the principal and other administrators on RTSWS’ impact
- Provide insights to parents about our program opportunities
- Coordinate with school facilities, transportation and communications
Assistant principals, business teachers, math teachers, librarians, guidance counselors and ESL instructors act as our school champions. They understand our mission and the life long impact it has on their students’ personal finances and career ambitions.
Teachers view our program as a hands on extension of the subjects they teach in their classrooms such as STEM, business and career counseling among others.
Cherly Vanosdall, math facilitator at South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte said, “Our staff is really excited about this program. We are a school that really supports STEM. We want to give students life experiences. We have staff that are really pushing other staff members saying “This is a great opportunity. Go do this!'”
School champions, thank you for your unshakable certainty in promoting personal financial skills to girls.
We know it is imperative to a successful life,
you know it is imperative to life…
And now THEY know it!
BE COOL. BE A CHAMPION.
Make a donation to start a program at a school near you.
by RTSWS | May 9, 2018 | Uncategorized
TD Ameritrade President and CEO, Tim Hockey continues to raise the bar on leadership and building a corporate culture that gives more than lip service to diversity and inclusion. Rock The Street, Wall Street students from V.R. Eaton and Byron Nelson High Schools in Fort Worth, Texas met with him recently while on their spring session job shadowing experience at the new TD Ameritrade offices in Southlake, Texas.
Tim stopped in during the students’ lunch and held an impromptu “lunch and learn” session. Thoughts on the gender pay gap, job opportunities, the market and how to be better leader were shared.
This CEO makes transformation personal.
It’s not everyday the CEO of a major investment firm meets with high school students to have an informal, meaningful chat on such topical matters.
“It was a great day,” said Natalie Eddleman, Counselor at Byron Nelson High School. “The visit with Tim was an incredible bonus—he was really inspiring! The girls were in awe and soaking in everything they could.”
And in Chicago… RTSWS Board Member Judy Ricketts, Managing Director at TD Ameritrade—Head of Investor Services and RTSWS Founder Maura Cunningham and JJ Kinahan, host of Real Talk on the TD Ameritrade Network sat down for a different kind of chat in Chicago. Their discussion was taped and is currently airing on the TD Ameritrade Network through May11th at 11:30 CT. You can also view the interview on demand by clicking here.
Kinahan, the host, is a CNBC regular, a Forbes contributor and is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Reuters News, along with many other respected media outlets.
During the 30-minute interview the three professionals discussed their daughters, RTSWS’ mission, the state of financial education in schools across the US and how we’re making a difference in the lives of our students and our volunteers.
Please note it takes approximately 30 seconds to load onto site.
by RTSWS | Apr 25, 2018 | Uncategorized
Let’s FACE it…
If they see it, they can be it!
Our spring mentor-protege program, which runs from January through April, develops girls’ self-confidence, provides accountability for their savings and spending plans, helps identify their academic goals, and discovers their genuine interests and professional aspirations. Our generous volunteers, finanical pros all, share their time and talent via monthly face-to-face meetings, held on campus—offering ideas on life, leadership, academic and career goals, and overcoming obstacles. Guidance that can last throughout our students’ lives. Many Rock The Street, Wall Street mentor-protege relationships have lasted for years!
Students are matched with mentors who draw out students’ strengths, and prepare them for college selections, career trajectory and smart money management. Girls learn the impact of being financially CONFIDENT early in life. They also learn about post secondary job opportunities in finance for those NOT continuing onto college, and for those continuing onto college, they learn about the value of internships and career requirements such as licensure and certification.
Conversations aren’t solely career-focused. The mentor adjusts her agenda to better fit the protege and is adaptable to the girls’ responses and open to speaking about topics outside our formal structure. The program is truly a sounding board for the students’ ideas and approaches toward their future selves.
New this year, we introduced the CliftonStrengths for Students which helps students discover and develop what they naturally do best, rather than focusing on their weaknesses. When students learn what’s unique about them, they gain a better understanding of how to apply themselves in and out of school. The assessment helps students stay more engaged in the classroom. When they prep for careers and futures that fit their talents, it isn’t just the students who benefit. Entire communities experience transformational change.
Our female financial volunteers have a sincere desire to be involved in the life of a girl—they actively listen, encourage, suspend judgement and ask thoughtful questions. Students are encouraged to explore their newly articulated talents with a mentor who visits with them from month to month. Students understand that they need to continue to hone in on their unique traits that can bring them future fulfillment and happiness.
by RTSWS | Apr 11, 2018 | Uncategorized
California, where our most recent student field trip took place, is no stranger to seismic shifts. This time it was in the viewpoints of girls from Harvard-Westlake as they interacted with female financial professionals at TD Ameritrade’s offices in Los Angeles. The magnitude of intriguing information about bonds delivered by Kelly Alexander, a private client investment consultant with TD Ameritrade, made a widespread impact on the students’ young minds—yes, it literally had the girls on the edges of their seats.
The girls also got a comprehensive roadmap of what it’s like to manage their own savings and investments. They now understand that investment knowledge will be one of their greatest assets as they go through life.
In addition, the girls learned how to become a financial pro during a panel moderated by Gale Northrop, Regional Director of TD Ameritrade that included Sara Qazi, Director of Global Sports & Entertainment from Morgan Stanley and Stasia Washington, Managing Director of First Foundation Advisors. Eyes lit up as they thought about landscape changes in their future!
Among the attendees was a mother-daughter duo…Sabina and Gemma Lippman. Sabina spearheaded our launch in California—she reached out to RTSWS after researching online for a financial education program tailored for girls like her 13-year-old daughter, Gemma.
“In earlier times, the roles were divided and women did not have control of the creation or management of the finances. That’s changing, but not quickly enough,” said Sabina. “Rock The Street, Wall Street helps girls think about what roles they want for themselves. For girls, if patterns continue where they don’t focus on math and finance in the same percentages as their male peers, they will become women who don’t know how to make it on their own.”
Sabina is arming her daughter with the tools to be financially independent and giving her a strong foundation to reach her full potential. She has an impressive resume herself including owning her own firm and having an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Sabina wanted her daughter to learn from women in the finance field who “walked the talk” with our program.
“I knew there had to be a more authentic source of learning for teenagers. In my personal and professional life, I’ve noticed a big difference in how women approach risk and new challenges,” said Sabina. “As mothers, we need to share fundamentals early with our daughters and provide them with tools to make them more capable in managing their future selves and expose them, too, to careers that may now be considered male-centric.”
According to The 2018 JA Teens & Personal Finance Survey, only 14 percent of teenagers get their financial advice from a professional financial advisor. Of particular concern is that 33% get it from social media and 28% from their friends. That’s where Rock The Street, Wall Street comes in…our female volunteer instructors have the “street cred” they need to educate and they know how to add the “cool factor” and relevency by introducing financial concepts using pop culture.
“I thought it was going to be a lecture type thing. Turned out it was something my friends and I could really relate to—the female instructors helped and we knew it was information we would need,” said Gemma. “I really like the part where we had to create a budget. It got us working together and made everything more real.”
Rock The Street, Wall Street helps bring math to their real world by introducing it in terms of money…not the mythical kind, but rather the hard earned, taxed, saved and invested, kind. Our curriculum rips from the headlines, is immersive and shows teenage girls what they need to learn about finance to get what we are all after—financial freedom.
“I don’t think girls aren’t trying in math, it’s more that we just don’t know what it can do,” said Gemma. “Now that I know, I want a tool that allows me to have more options in life and will reduce the limitations that may come my way as I grow. I want this skill that I can call my own.”
Set a course for female financial independence at a school in your area. Contact us.
by RTSWS | Mar 23, 2018 | Uncategorized
The Rock The Street, Wall Street (RTSWS) board of directors elected three new board members in February. Two are business executives who come from the legal and financial professions. The third comes from the educational sector.
Each of these individuals will be offering their efforts to further scale our reach and impact to more girls throughout the U.S.
Anand David
Global Director of Lateral Partner Recruiting at White & Case, LLP. Mr. David develops and implements strategic global staffing initiatives for finance and other industries. Mr. David has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing strategic global staffing initiatives for a broad range of industries including energy, financial services and legal. In addition to the United States, Mr. David has had on the ground recruiting experience in South America, Europe and Asia and is currently based in New York City, NY.
Suzan Gibbs Ilic, CFA
Currently Corporate Portfolio Manager, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation and formerly, Managing Director, North American Origination Manager; Managing Director, South America – Caterpillar Leasing, Chile. Ms. Ilic also served as Treasury Manager, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation. Ms. Ilic previously worked at Merrill Lynch in institutional equity sales in New York City. She is currently based in Nashville, TN.
Ruben Ingram, Ed.D.
Executive Director of School Employers Association of California. He is the former Executive Director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and prior to that was District Superintendent for the Fountain Valley School District. Mr. Ingram was a teacher and principal in the Long Beach Unified School District, has taught at California State University, Long Beach, the University of Southern California, and Chapman University. Mr. Ingram has published numerous professional articles, and has spoken at most major educational conferences both in California and the nation. He has served as a consultant to many school districts, state and federal agencies and has consulted internationally.
Our board members are financial, law, educational, nonprofit and government leaders from the cities we serve across the United States. The board provides governance and fiduciary oversight, sets policy, and assesses RTSWS’ overall performance. We are extremely grateful for their dedication and contribution to expanding our mission.
BECOME PART OF A GROWING IMPACT.
by RTSWS | Mar 10, 2018 | Uncategorized
We are officially on the West Coast!
Students from Harvard-Westlake in Beverly Hills are off to a fast start as they got right down to business.
RTSWS volunteers, all female financial professionals from TD Ameritrade, began with a discussion on what it means to be “in the market”, why the market “closes” and covered the basics about the Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P indices. Students downloaded a stock market app to their phones and added four securities (FB, AMZN, SBUX and AAPL). The students are looking at the app each day and calculating the current value of this portfolio assuming they owned 100 shares of each. Each week, they are discussing their findings with the TD Ameritrade pros. This includes what happens in the broader markets, how political landscapes affect global markets, what causes price fluctuations of each stock and the current return on “paper” investments.
The girls are engaged and have many good questions about the stock market such as:
- “How many shares of Amazon are out in the market?”
- “Is there always someone on the other side of a trade to buy/sell a stock?”
- “How does bad news affect a stock price?”
The students, role playing as a financial advisor, were then introduced to “Jane”, their 28-year-old client. They reviewed a copy of her pay stub, current expenses, savings goals and wish list. The students then split into teams to begin research on local cost of living expenses, interest rates and market returns. They brainstormed as small groups throughout this session and will do so next session to create a budget for Jane given her $68,000 annual starting salary.
Welcome ladies to the value of knowing how to do financial math in the real world and learning how to SAVE AND INVEST!
Among women, financial illiteracy cuts across all socioeconomic classes.
- When two out three women state they know little to nothing about finance, this is a cause for concern.
- When 80% of teachers self-report that they do not feel qualified to teach financial literacy, this is a cause for concern.
- When the number of women leading the financial services sector and S&P 500 companies drops to 4.6% after a 40 year high of 5%, this is a cause for concern.
- For International Women’s Day we are all being challenged to #BeBoldForChange and for us that is continuing to pledge to helping spark the interest of high school girls into careers in finance and teach financial literacy.
Here is where we stand:
- We will be bold and forge women’s advancement.
- Rock The Street, Wall Street encourages girls to explore a career in finance by acquainting them with leading women in the financial services industry. By reaching out to girls while in high school, we’ll commission them to take charge of their finances at an early age. We illuminate the relevance of finance in everyday life and encourage girls to study math and finance, and seek a profession in the financial industry, where women are vastly under-represented and comprise a small percentage of the industry leaders.
- Our students are being educated beyond their core components of classroom curriculum. They are being engaged in higher thinking, the big picture, and the ability to envision their financial futures for themselves, their families and their communities.
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