Leveling the Playing Field

Significant strides have been made in providing equal opportunity in the workplace for men and women. However, the work is not done yet. Male-dominated fields are still prevalent, and there remains inequality in pay, disparity in promotions, and other major issues.

Cheshire Academy is working to eliminate such gaps at the academic level, specifically by providing girls on campus the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities that educate them on finance, investing, and marketing. They’re learning new skills and expanding upon existing talents, opening doors to new opportunities, making connections, and considering professions they might otherwise not have entertained. In turn, when they go on to college and the workforce, they’re a step ahead and ready to make a difference.

MAKING AN IMPACT

New this year is Girls with Impact, a nonprofit organization that designed a hybrid in-person and remote interactive course that offers high school girls the chance to participate in a master's of business administration class. Their course helps students launch businesses that address market needs, build their networks, impact their college and career success, and equip them with drive, confidence, technical, financial, and social skills.

Over the 10-week course, girls developed a business plan, created a prototype, and pitched their project in front of their peers.

Feyza Horuz ’24 was one of 15 girls who participated in Girls with Impact. She heard about the program through her friend Eliana Orlinsky ’24, and had already participated in the Invest in Girls program.

Feyza Horuz ’24

For her prototype, Horuz developed an app that shows how much carbon the user puts into the atmosphere through daily activities. “My problem was climate change, how much carbon people put in to the atmosphere, and how it affects the climate. The app would track how much you put in from your energy usage and transportation, how much gas you use and your fossil fuel consumption, and how much meat you consume because item its carbon.”

Students participating in the Girls with Impact course met for online classes in the College Counseling Office in Hurley Hall.

But Horuz’s app does more than just identify pollution—it provides a solution. The user can redeem in-app points gained by being energy efficient (turning off lights, unplugging appliances when not in use) to have new trees planted.Other options would be available, but Horuz said the focus would be to plant trees, or to have trees donated. “There would also be opportunities for the user to volunteer to plant those trees in their local area, so they would actually be acting upon what they believe in.”

As part of the course, students learned about budgeting for their business plan, and other specifics about running their own business, such as where and to whom they market their product. For Horuz, her budget had to include the cost of developing her app, an office space, salaries for her employees, and advertising.She also considered creating a website as part of her business plan to provide prospective users with more information about her app.

Students also practiced elevator pitches: 30-second presentations of their products that would garner someone’s interest. “That just gets you used to being able to persuade someone right away about what your idea is, and I think that it really helps you with your communication skills,” Horuz explained.

IT’S ALL ABOUT INVESTING

During the second semester, seven Cheshire Academy girls began meeting in the Blue Room for an informative series on the foundations of finance, led by Invest in Girls. A nonprofit organization, IIG provides several student programs to high school girls that give students the power and confidence necessary to navigate the world of personal finance and investments.

This academic year marks the fourth year thatIIG has worked with Cheshire Academy. Supported by Head of School Julie AndersonP’19,’23, IIG provided CA students with a crash course on investing, going over topics such as investing versus saving, stocks, bonds, and funds, and building a portfolio. They concluded the course with a trip to Capstone, an international investment management firm.

Faculty member and Sustainability CoordinatorJen Dillon serves as the IIG liaison. She said the small group setting—the program is capped at 10 students—allows for an almost one-to-one mentorship experience that provides for more personal conversations, and for the students to have the comfort and confidence to ask questions, participate, and have a voice.

This year, students focused on how to invest their money properly by studying the stock market. “It really gave a high-level view, but also some specificity in terms of really drilling down into bank accounts,” explained Dillon. “What should you look for? Why should you choose this bank or account? Why should you have a bank account?”

They learned the basics about the stock market and finance, key terms critical to the field, and taxes. Eliana Orlinsky ’24 signed up for the program to learn more about the world of finance.

“I wanted to take advantage of what the school was offering because finance is a very male-dominated field,” Orlinsky said.

Students also practiced investing funds. Each student started with a virtual account of $100,000.

Invest in Girls participants traveled to New York City to hear from female leaders at Capstone, a global, alternative investment management firm.

Orlinsky invested her funds in a solar company and a space company. She ended up “earning” more than $12,000.

Lilia Aguayo ’23, on the other hand, lost $10,000, but walked away wiser from the experience. “It was during the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine,” she reflected. “I learned that even reliable companies can lose money in the short term and that you have to invest long term if you want to secure investments.”

The students also found out what type of spenders they are. Orlinsky, for example, tended to keep her money close.

“I learned that I was a ‘mattress hoarder,’” she said, laughing. “I like to keep all my money in sight. Other people like to invest theirs or spend theirs, which was interesting to see.”

Aguayo was a moderate spender. “I was in between. I wasn’t discouraged to spend money, but I wasn’t a risktaker either.”

On March 28, the group traveled to New York City to visit Capstone. In prior years, IIG participants visited Ernst & Young and Morgan Stanley. At Capstone, students met with some female employees and were able to ask them questions specific to their careers. Almost all the employees told the students that, growing up, they did not expect to be in the roles they are today, according to Dillon.

“That really helped our young women see that you don’t need to know today what your career will be,” Dillon said.

Taking the trip to the city to meet with Capstone employees— and other companies in prior years—reinforces the importance of providing the IIG program at CA. “When we have these trips, when we have these final sessions of the workshops, and the students start to ask me questions (about how to learn more about a profession or field), I think that is the gratification of it. It shows that this is something we need at CA and in this country.”