It started with one email. Then, a few minutes later, another. Then a few more until it turned out every student in one class at Ronald Reagan College Preparatory H.S. had emailed one of our volunteers to share the impact of his volunteer time, experience and expertise.

Nearly three-dozen students in educator Courtney Bell’s personal and professional skills course at the esteemed southside Milwaukee school sent their own “thank you” emails to their Money Sense volunteer, Joe Schlidt. Schlidt has been part of our mission since the start, and was one of a troop of financial education volunteers in lessons that included Doug Levy and Rob Wilson.

In keeping with our #GivingTuesday tradition of sharing a story, we’ve compiled snippets from some of the emails by these promising students. We hope they will inspire you and give you a view of the impact that financial empowerment can have on a young person. (Schlidt, pictured below from a previous volunteer experience, already sent emails back to these “young all stars.”) Feel free to share the sentiment with a financial literacy mentor in your life.

Dear Mr. Schlidt,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to give my class and I such a wonderful lesson on personal banking. It was an eye opener on how everything is in the big world. I learned a lot of new things that I never knew about before in the world of saving.

It was a such a pleasure to get advice from a professional who knows a lot about stocks, interest, and saving. I learned a lot of interesting things that will not only benefit me and my future, but also advice that I can give to my younger sisters so they can benefit their futures.

A thing that you said that really stuck in my head was that my generation is the generation that will be financially stable if we start saving our money now. I find it really interesting because many of my friends and I have jobs and are in school. What I assumed was that most of us spend our money but surprisingly I saw in the class that many of us have a separate account specifically for saving money for our futures.

Again thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to come to my class and speak to my classmates and I. I will take your advice into consideration whenever I think about spending money and budgeting for my future.

Sincerely,

Jessica

Dear Mr. Schlidt,
I wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to help my fellow classmates at Ronald Reagan High School and I prepare for our future. In my high school years no one has taught me or my classmates the importance of money or to even save our money. Your lesson about our finances really made me realize how much money I actually do spend and how I need to be more mindful of my money. Thank you once again for teaching me how to save and be more mindful of my money.
–Alexis

Peter: “Before you came I had no clue about budgeting, income, and paychecks. ‘Needs and wants’ is good way to think when consider to spend money. … I thoroughly enjoyed learning about compound interest and financial freedom.”

Angelise: “It was really helpful for me