Caption: Middle school students in the finance class discuss a list of salary options as part of a class activity. [by Matheus Kim]
by Levi Penha
PACA’s new Finance middle school elective, taught by IT staff and secondary teacher, Enoch Bolanta, was an instant success as many middle school students signed up to take the class for the first semester of the 2026-2027 school year at Pan American Christian Academy of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
PACA has presented a variety of different elective classes to its secondary students, in which all of them are expected to bring knowledge, creativity, and wisdom to the ones who want to develop their skills into a certain topic. Fortunately for the middle school students, this year is no different.
The new middle school Finance class is an engaging new class that brings students to a worldview of how to be responsible stewards of resources through Biblical principles. Although the class was a popular option among the middle school elective choices, there is an expectation that students will not take it lightly.
According to Bolanta, this is not a normal class that kids can joke around in.
“When it comes to finance, people always struggle,” said Bolanta. “[They need to] take it seriously.”
The teacher has prepared daily lessons to provide students with resources so that they can have a successful life both as a Christ follower and a successful financial life. Among the factors that differentiate Bolanta’s Finance class from other Finance classes in other schools, is the emphasis on the essentials within his curriculum. While some finance and money professors might teach people how to win money, Bolanta teaches them to define what is money itself.
As this class is developed for middle school students, Bolanta sees that they have the capability to develop skills way faster than adults, and this makes Finance the perfect class for their level. When people usually start to prepare on how they will get, administrate, and save money, they are already young adults and full of things to worry about.
According to Bolanta, the best thing to do as a kid or teenager is to learn and master these essentials for a good adulthood life.
People might think that certain things don’t affect children until adulthood, but this class certainly does and will continue to affect them. Finance students are eager to learn more about the positive impacts that money has on people. Current eighth grader and finance student Emmanuel Lee, talked about what impacts he thinks finance will cause on their current and future lives.
“I think that it will help us a lot now to make better choices about money and how we use money,” said Lee. “And of course it’s going to help us a lot in the future to deal with the money that we make.”
Reading also takes a big part in this. It is the key fundamental for truly learning about something and mastering it. Without reading, we would be no one in life.
“A great way for kids to learn about the finance world is reading, it’s an important skill for your life, vital for learning,” said Bolanta.
As described in the class syllabus and Bolanta’s explanation of the class, with great money comes great responsibility, and that is where Biblical themes come in. Self-control, wisdom, stewardship, and generosity are the principles for someone who dreams of having lots of money. Without them people with money would be nothing, even if they didn’t follow a Christian worldview.
The world of finance, business and money are important things in life, but sometimes people let them take their whole time and love, especially money. Finance class is the perfect place to conquer what it takes to be a responsible person, as it is expressed by the class syllabus, Enoch and Emmanuel as well.
Every semester, PACA staff try to present its students with new and surprising different classes, in which all of them seek to learn about bringing knowledge, creativity, and wisdom to their future lives. For students in the new middle school Finance class, this achievement is possible.
