For the third year running, employees from TD Ameritrade’s regional offices located in Ft. Worth,TX offered our students a multi-sensory experience and showed what it takes to work in the financial services field.
RTSWS students from V.R. Eaton High School and Byron Nelson High School traveled to the TD Ameritrade offices for this year’s field trip and met the women working there – women in technology, client services, investment consulting, brokerage operations and critical roles for its institutional business. The fall semester capstone field trip helps students link the RTSWS classroom financial projects to the real world.
Here’s what they did:
Our students saw what it’s like to work in an innovative financial environment. With TDA’s recent acquisition of Scottrade, everyone in the office is working on all cylinders and the students could feel the excitement in the air.
Coming this spring, TD Ameritrade professionals will mentor the girls and bring more of the resources of the financial community to the each student’s individual learning experience.
“Absolutely Amazing”
“The program, for me as a teacher, is another way for to open up doors for my students. They are exposed to dozens of women who are coming from diverse backgrounds, and ended up in the financial services industry. They can learn from these women (about how to save and invest and careers). They can glean from the pearls of wisdom they’re receiving from the women, and they can use those to help plan for their own future.”
“The program has been absolutely amazing! The volunteers who come into the school and work with the girls are very knowledgeable, they’re understanding and they’re empathetic. They really reached out and developed relationships with my students which is the reason why we have 27 of them here today.”
Stay tuned for more from our champion school teachers, volunteers and students!
Rock The Street, Wall Street is a financial literacy program designed to correct income inequality and spark the interest of high school girls into careers of finance.
Thank you TD Ameritrade for your support over the years.
You are what making a difference looks like!
Later in the day, the panel discussion on financial professions gave students an open forum to get multiple perspectives on the typical work week, rewards of the job and advice on how to plan their future.
Students guessed the price of a Mercedes S Class automobile and were then presented with various lending schemes to pay for the car. Variations of lending packages included length of loan and various interest rates.
They then were asked how does one afford a Mercedes? That’s when the girls learned about the stocks all RTSWS students followed this semester, GOOG, APPL and FB.
They saw how the price of each of these stocks has increased over the years and how, if they had invested in them, they too, could afford to lease or own a Mercedes. Students were handed $100,000 candy bars and Smarties for getting in the game.
We were thrilled to meet so many girls who want to learn more about being financially fit. Visit The Ford Next Generation Learning Hub to learn more about Nashville Academies’ success.
RTSWS students from John Overton High School —a Metro Nashville Public School and one of the most diverse high schools in Tennessee—took a field trip last week to the corporate headquarters of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), a Fortune 100 Company. Unique from the financial institutions RTSWS typically visits, HCA manages 174 hospitals around the world and hires tens of thousands of people into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. Our girls are candidates for future hiring at HCA into financial roles as it transacts billions of dollars across international borders and institutions as well as invests billions in its employer sponsored retirement plans.
Overton sophomores, juniors and seniors started the day learning about the importance of a first impression from Sunny Powell, Senior Communications Specialist with HCA.
After lunch, a panel of HCA female financial professionals shared their college and career paths, leadership skills and how they use math in their current roles. They then offered advice on pursuing financial independence and a career in STEM.
Students toured the offices, meeting more women along the way, received a “Certificate of Participation” for completing the RTSWS financial workshops taught by HCA professionals since September. Students also received the widely used reference book, the S & P’s Guide to Money and Investing and of course, this year’s cool RTSWS t-shirt.
HCA mentors will team up with Overton students and join the ranks of the mentor/protege teams we have across 5 cities in the U.S. where we offer RTSWS programming. Mentors and proteges will meet face to face once per month and will be offered the eye opening opportunity to job shadow women in finance. During this component of the RTSWS full-year program, HCA professionals will provide ongoing guidance to the girls on the importance of being financial responsible, college major/minor preparation, staying motivated, life challenges, resume building, job readiness skills, leadership and career paths.
These relationships may last for years to come as they have for some of our past students.
When it comes to making an impact, HCA rules.
Thank you!
Recently, the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management hosted its annual Women in Business Symposium, an opportunity for alumni and prospective students to get to know each other and discuss the many opportunities of a career in business.
Our founder, Maura Cunningham, along with Vanderbilt alumni from Exxon Mobil, Deloitte Consulting and Make a Wish Foundation hosted a panel entitled “Go for it”. The panel took questions and commented on:
Maura was delighted to share and hear the questions of young women who are considering a management career in business. This opportunity to connect with tomorrow’s rising business leaders gives us even more insight into the benefits of offering Rock The Street, Wall Street, (RTSWS), programs to high school girls.
At RTSWS, we plant the seed and prepare our students for a life in business by offering:
Our programs find girls across ALL socioeconomic strata and open their eyes and minds to how THEY can rise up and make a difference in business and in the world around them.
