Week 8: This week we were given the task to interview a family member, mentor or friend. I chose to interview my mother who grew up in Connecticut. When I asked her about what her life was like as a child she told me about her times on her family farm with her pony named Alice. She said that now a days it had become much more urban and less rural. As money advice goes my mother told me that I need to make my own money and not always live off of my parents earnings. I thought this was an interesting experience because I learned things about my mother I did not yet know.

 

Week 9: Today was a tremendous day with lots of excitement. We started our journey at the quantum house where we learned about how they were helping residents at the hospital. I was glad to meet some of the families because the house originally seemed empty. Then we visited our site where captain T was helping a veteran. I thought it was very moving because he just went out of his way to make a difference and asked for nothing in return despite his time invested. Then we visited the palm beach county food bank where we had a great lunch. Thanks again. Then we ended our endeavor at Peggy Adams where we learned a lot and had a chance to see some neat animals.

Week 1: This week was our first week and we started learning about MSP. We watched an instructional video and were talked to by other kids who had already surpassed the program: they seemed to be thrilled. We met our instructors and they introduced themselves and told us why they felt philanthropy was their calling. I thought it was quite interesting how Mrs. Allegra was inspired by the children she met on vacation in another country. I’ve never given philanthropy lots of thought donating was just something my family always did but I’m excited to learn about how large companies use it to avoid certain taxes and benefit themselves.

 

Week 2: This week we played a little game with these special cards. We took a group of around 15 cards and choose how we felt about them in order from greatest to least. I choose military as my number one because I feel strongly that many people either want to support the troops or don’t know how or people don’t support the troops enough. Many people put a little ribbon on their car but that isn’t enough to help them men and women who give everything for our freedom. With our selected cards we found other with the same cards in similar order and made groups to help each subject.

 

Week 3: This week we did an exercise to teach us about those who are working in our group that we may not know too well. My group consists of my two good friends Ward and Michael who brought little knickknacks in their bags such as a 76ers bus to express their interest in the NBA. Even though I already knew them quite well I learned things about them that only I would learn if given such an opportunity. I think that MSP is a very interesting program that has a large educational value and teaches you important life lessons.

 

Week 4: This week we went through with a big shot accountant who taught us how to look through a 990 form. We learned about how to calculate the ratio of money donated from non-profit organizations. We also learned lots about tax codes and how companies use loopholes to avoid paying more then they absolutely need too. Mr. Cohner used Mitt Romney as an example because even though he makes a large sum of money every year he only pays a small amount on his takes because he has professionals who know the tax code so wall.

 

Week 5: During this week we went through many emails with Mrs. Denison about who we were going to bring to the panel. We were having trouble because our charity is only open during school hours. We couldn’t call during school because we aren’t allowed to have our phones out. We told Mrs. Smith about it but it seems she was on her honeymoon so shout out to her for getting married that’s great congratulations. Anyway we finally go ahold of our charity and Capt. Turpin and we will be going to see him in action soon.

 

 

 

 

Week 6: This week we got to meet a few very interesting group of people in our class. There were some representatives from a few different charities that made up a panel. They told us a lot about themselves and we had a few minutes at the end to ask questions and see a little bit more about their personalities. We were taught in the beginning that just because a charity is economically sound doesn’t mean you necessarily want to invest in them. I personally thought the man from scripts had a great personality and was very fun to listen to.

 

Week 7: This week we tried something that was pretty cool, we Skyped with a company from Orlando on the smart board. It was pretty interesting to hear about how large the company is and all the great work they’re doing. There was only one worry amongst the class and that was if we would be taken seriously because our donation is not as large. Although we were assured that our donation would be taken just as serious as any others. We were told this company even offered to engrave their name into their donation wall.