During both lunches on April 24th, the Credit for Life fair was hosted by Essex Heritage worker Beth Beringer and personal finance teacher Robin Pine.

The pair met at a workshop hosted by Essex Heritage Center where a training was held to teach about the importance of community service and ways to integrate it into the school curriculums.

The two decided to organize an event which would advise students about spending money and avoiding debt. The pair partnered with Cape Ann Savings Bank President Bob Gillis and Marketing Director Jennifer Orlando.

Pine decided it would be very beneficial to simulate a sort of budgeting game and, to give the students a voice, made it a student-led event where students created the spreadsheet for the calculations and facilitated the event itself.

“We spent about 3 weeks working on the spreadsheet to show the other students what they can afford and tell them how they can avoid or fix any debt,” said Julia Kuhns.

The event offered a raffle prize to anyone who participated, producing two winners of $150 gift cards. The donations that led the successful event came from both Cape Ann Saving Bank and Essex Heritage, each in the amount of $300. The donation from Cape Ann Savings Bank was used specifically for the raffle prizes, and the donation from Essex Heritage was used for the supplies to make the event happen.

Beringer and Pine admired the work of the successful event.

“The fun part of this is all 33 students in personal finance became credit advisors,” said Pine. “Students are helping other students to avoid credit card debt by teaching their peers to buy only what they can afford to pay for.”