Finance U: LFLA's College and Career Blog

Justin, Class of 2018, explains how to keep your grades up.        Keeping up with grades will be one of, if not, the most vital thing you will have to maintain throughout your career in school. When your grades are kept up, not only are you passing, but you also get a feeling of achievement in the end. Of course, when you care about your grades, you will end up stressing. Then again, the stress will be worth it, considering that you are stressing for a good reason.        If you are someone like me who has a lot on their plate, making sure your grades are kept up might feel like the least of your worries. Having that mindset, however, does not make anything better. I remember during the second and third quarters of 2017 (March to October), I ended up going through a deep depression. It felt as if things would never go right in the heat of the moment.        There was a lot going on during those months, but the main thi...

Erica, Class of 2018, shares her experiences with managing your time when you go to school & work a part-time job.   One of the most important things about senior year is learning how to save money and manage your time. Coming into senior year I knew I had to get a job, because I knew that this year of all the years was going to be one of the most, if not the most, expensive years of high school with things like senior dues, prom, and college application fees etc. coming up I knew not having a job wasn’t an option. I had been looking for a job the summer coming into my junior year and all throughout junior year. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one because a lot of jobs like for you to have experience, and I also had this thought that I was honestly better than certain jobs, which prevented me from applying to a lot of places I probably would’ve gotten hired. I finally got a chance when I sucked it up and just went to the open interviews that McDonald’s was having....

Kyajaa, Class of 2018, shares how she chose her college major.       In our lives, the common question asked is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a kid, I couldn’t come up with an imaginative or realistic answer, so I would shrug to avoid the question. The path to finding my college major began in 7th grade. I know, what person finds their dream job that young? At the age of 13, I was introduced to Mechanical Engineering. I researched what Mechanical Engineers did, and I knew that wasn’t the path for me. I didn’t give up on engineering though, just the mechanics part of it.      Fast forward to my junior year in high school, I was in Engineering class, an elective, and Mama Danzo, or Mrs. Danzo #2, assigned the class to research and complete a presentation on the engineering field of your choice. For my presentation, I chose Aerospace Engineering. Aerospace Engineering is the development, design, and manufacturing of aircraft and spacecra...

Janai, Class of 2018, explains how the Macy's Street Law program helped her choose her major and gives advice on choosing a college to fit your major. Janai participated in the Macy's Street Law program her junior year.          When I started high school I started thinking about what I wanted to study in college. The middle of my freshman year I realized that I was very interested in the law and how it could help people. When I realized that I wanted to study law in college, I started looking at schools near and far that offered law programs.            Once I did that I was in my junior year in high school. Then one day I learned that my school did a Street Law program. That’s when some lawyers come from Macy's and teach you about law and tell what they do at their job on an everyday basis. At the end of the program, you go to the Macy's law office, and you get to pretend to be a lawyer. You are either defending Macy'...

Josh, Class of 2018, explains how getting involved in an extracurricular activity like soccer can benefit you.        In high school getting involved in school activities like sports could help you out in many ways. If you’re new to a school I believe the best way to possibly make friends and find your place at school is through school activities. Just find something that you like, and boom you already have 1 thing in common with the people who are in the activity group. Even if you’re not new to the school and you already have friends, participating in school activities gives you the opportunity to make new friends. Doing these activities can also look great on your resume when applying for college, scholarships or a job.         When high school started for me I wasn’t interested in school activities. I was mostly focused on playing video games and trying to date girls. When my sophomore year came around I decided to play soccer again. I use...

 Jayla, Class of 2018, tells us about the recent field trip to American Eagle Credit Union and what she learned about banking.        On March 21, 2018, a majority of  Lift for Life Academy seniors went on a field trip to American Eagle Credit Union to create savings accounts. In order to create a savings account, you had to pay an initial $5 deposit. Each student received $5 from the American Eagle Credit Union, which was very helpful. At AECU Tracy and Cayla, two of the staff members, gave everyone a tour around the Credit Union. We saw all the different departments that were included in the American Eagle Credit Union, such as: social media department, accounting department, human resources department (HR), etc.  Every student had the experience of going inside all of the departments to get a vision and feeling of how it would feel to work in a workplace like the AECU. One young lady, showed us a brief PowerPoint of how the Social Media departm...

Jazmyne, Class of 2018, explains how to get the most out of a college visit and how her visits helped her pick the college she will attend in the fall.         College trips are an essential part of your college decision making steps. You want to attend as many college trips as you can. I have been on a total of 13 college trips ranging from Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Predominately White Institutions, and regular universities.         On typical college trips you are given a tour of the campus while your tour guide answers any questions you have. Be sure to have lots of questions so that you really get to know the place because you never know, it might end up being a school you are really interested in. This college could turn into your home away from home so it is only right you know everything there is to know. Ask questions about dorms, scholarships, admission requirements, doctors on campus, majors, meal plans, an...