GILES COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – Financial literacy is a skill everyone can benefit from, and Virginia knows this. In fact, Personal Finance and Economics is a required course to pass for high school students to graduate in the commonwealth.
A couple of our hometown high schools were honored on the “100 Best High Schools Teaching Personal Finance” list for 2026, including Narrows High in Giles County.
WDBJ7 spoke with the finance teacher and some students about the importance of understanding financial literacy.
“I always try to tell the kids, like, you know, you have to live within your means,” said Crystal Boggess.
W!SE, or Working in Support of Education, is an educational nonprofit that offers financial literacy programs and resources to middle and high schools across the country. President & CEO David Anderson said the list highlights how educators are equipping students with critical financial literacy skills that prepare them for real-world success.
“The signature element of our program is a financial literacy certification test. So normally a school will administer our pre-test at the beginning of instruction to benchmark students’ knowledge going in. And then they administer our certification test after instruction to measure the financial literacy of the students after they’ve completed a course. What’s special about it is that the students who pass become certified financially literate,” added Anderson.
Boggess teaches Personal Finance and Economics at Narrows High School. Students in her class do lots of real life simulation activities that teach kids about employment documents, setting up bank accounts, loan applications, credit management, taxes, budgeting and more.
“When they walk across that stage. We need them to be ready for employment and they’re going to be hit with all of these questions that I’m throwing at them as freshmen, sophomore, you know, juniors in high school. And so if they already have a base knowledge of that, they’re going to make those decisions, those crucial impacts, and they’re going to make the right decision,” she said.
Students in Mrs. Boggess’ class said she’s equipped them with the necessary skills needed to be successful after graduation.
“I feel like it’s teaching me how to correctly spend my money and stuff,” said tenth grader Kirstyn Buracker.
“It’s just better for our future. I mean, just some schools don’t have this opportunity and people go out into the real world and just don’t even have, don’t know what they’re doing and get their self in debt, go bankrupt. But I feel like this is just helping us be able to just plan our life out easier and just let us know how it’s going to be and if we’re going to have to make sacrifices,” added ninth grader, Cooper Sutphin.
Anderson said Virginia has been a leading force in promoting financial education, and he couldn’t be prouder.
“We wanted to draw attention to how important financial education is in schools and to really nudge policymakers to elevate personal finance, financial education up the academic ladder in schools,” closed Anderson.
2026 was the sixth time Narrows has been honored on W!SE’s “100 Best High Schools Teaching Personal Finance” list. It was its first time in the top 10 nationally.
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