The school board at Tuscarora School District has implemented two new graduation requirements into the curriculum for the incoming freshmen of next year, for the Class of 2023. The two classes are titled Personal Finance and State & Local Government/Community History. The teachers in the departments of these classes have shown excitement about including these new required courses. They are anxious to see growth in the students taking the classes since they believe they will see a positive impact from them.

The State & Local Government/Community History class being introduced will become part of the required curriculum for the Social Studies department. One advocate for this new class is Mrs. Megan Swailes (Faculty) who is a ninth grade American History teacher. She feels that students should be more aware of the government and history around them that they may not even see and believes that this course will be beneficial towards that.

“It’s just to educate the kids on how the local setting is set up and hopefully kind of push them to where they could get involved,” said Swailes.  “Then the history part of it is just acknowledging that you live in a pretty historically-rich area.”

The department feels that this class will play a more vital role in the students’ academic career rather than federal government, which most students rarely get involved in throughout their lives. The teachers feel it will motivate the students to get involved in the community that is around them which they have easier access to.

“You take federal government but there is not a lot of time for the state and local and that level of government is what people tend to get more involved with,” said Swailes. “That’s the government that we feel we really need to emphasize for kids.”

The Personal Finance course has been offered as an option for previous classes but is now being introduced as a requirement for the Class of 2023. This course teaches financial skills such as paying taxes, cashing checks, and preparing for retirement that are very important for adulthood. The department teaching this course hopes students take something positive away from it.

“I hope that they learn something that maybe their parents didn’t teach them and that they can use it in life to further their finances and their savings,” said Mrs. Linda Rife (Faculty).

With these skills being so essential for adulthood, it is hard to see why a student would not want to take this course to prepare for their life after graduation. Different faculty members at James Buchanan are supporters of the Personal Finance course and feel that it would be helpful to the students.

“One of the things people struggle with the most is money, so teaching people how to be prepared financially for after high school I think is just very vital,” said Mrs. Lynn Troutman (Faculty).

The rationale behind adding these courses is very simple: both are proven to be very vital for after high school and will give you skills and knowledge that you may not often get the opportunity to learn. The staff hopes to see great things come from the students after taking these graduation requirements.