What questions should you ask during a job interview?
What should you know when first buying a home?
How do you change tire?
Those are just a few of the topics students in Matthew Watkins’ senior seminar class at Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School have been learning about this year. In addition to projects, the half-year class features guest speakers that talk to students about a variety of subjects related to being an adult.
“My goal is that the students learn that self-reliance will serve them well and allow them to pursue what they like,” Watkins said.
In March, students worked on creating catchy resumes and cover letters. Other topics the class plans to cover include cleaning and laundry, home/auto repair, lawn/garden maintenance, and meal preparation.
“Students will also be accomplishing things as we go forward such as opening a checking account, applying for a credit card, compiling a list of networked humans, filling out student loan info in some cases, and more,” Watkins said.
“Each ‘project’ is going to be them actually doing something to benefit them moving forward in a tangible way.”
Ava Lanaux said she took the class because she wanted to learn adult-related skills.
“This class has been great. We learn a lot from the teacher, the speakers and other classmates,” she said.
“So far, my favorite project has been learning how to change a tire. We also learned how to make tater tots and lots of other cool stuff.”
Ariel Bell echoed Lanaux’s sentiment.
“The best thing I’ve learned was about college debt and money management. In just a few classes, we’ve covered a lot,” she said.