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Rivera Preparatory School senior Ryan James wants to help others improve their financial literacy skills. He recently did a financial literacy skills seminar for the Village of Palmetto Bay.
“I presented to over a dozen children and young adults,” he says.
James says he sensed a need for it in the community. While researching and writing the seminar he came to realize that these types of things can take a lot of time and that it’s important to cater the information to the audience.
James has been interested in the topic for a while.
“I have been writing a newsletter on the basics of investing the skills are very translatable,” he says. “I read a lot about finance and the economy, and I learned a lot about financial literacy.”
His newsletter, newsletter:thebasicsofinvesting.com, has come out more than 11 times.
“I had been investing on my own and I was interested in finance,” he says.
James has been working on making similar presentations to Pinecrest and the NAACP. He’s worked with the NAACP through his participation in Teens Advocating Together, sponsored by the NAACP Resource Room and the Jewish Community Relations Council, a part of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. The project lasted six months.
“We would do exercises with the other participants to train our advocacy skills,” he says.
“We would be assigned a task, look through documents, about the civil rights movement or Jews in the civil rights movement and talk about it or do an argument for it.”
They had guest speakers as well. James says the most memorable speaker was a social worker who works with the police department and within the black community to help poor people who are in bad situations.
“We had a bunch of advocacy meetings,” he says. “We collaborated together and learned from leaders from the community.”
The students focused on issues such as climate change, hate crimes and mental health when they met with lawmakers in Tallahassee.
“We were going to advocate on gun violence but there is not a bill on the floor,” he says.
He’s happy he participated in the program.
“I think it enhanced my life skills to advocate for myself and others,” James says. “I got to experience what our political representatives are doing in Tallahassee, and I got to influence that process.”
His other community service includes volunteering at Friendship Circle.
“I do activities with members of the community who have Downs syndrome and autism spectrum disorder,” he says. “To save time for their parents. To provide them with friendship and affection and someone to look up to.”
He usually goes on Sundays, and he also participates during the summer sessions.
“I like spending time with the participants and with the other volunteers,” he says. “I love giving back to the community on a regular basis.”
At school, he’s the founder and president of the Investment Club, co-captain of the Geography Bee team and a member of Key Club.
He’s also co-captain of the cross-country team. He’s been on the cross-country squad for seven years. James also runs mid-distance races on the varsity track team.
He played baseball for seven years but decided to stop playing and become an umpire for Howard Palmetto because there’s a national youth umpire shortage.
“It’s really fun,” he says. “There is a little conflict, but it’s always resolved, and I like umpiring for little kids.”
For college, James plans to major in finance. He’s applied to Washington University in St. Louis, Bentley University, Elon University, Lehigh, Babson, the University of Florida, Florida State and Indiana.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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