Are you looking to pursue business, increase your financial literacy, or simply improve your money management skills? Then the Academy of Finance is the program for you! One of five programs offered by NAF (along with the Academy of Information Technology, Academy of Engineering, Academy of Healthcare Services, and the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism) in a total of 644 schools across the country, the Academy of Finance is a college and career readiness program, which provides students a strong foundation in the world of business, concentrating in the areas of marketing, management, entrepreneurship, accounting, and economic education. Students must apply to the program in 9th grade for entry during their sophomore year of high school. The program itself is a 3-year elective-based enhancement to the core high school classes. Students take up to eight AOF classes, each designed to help integrate elements of business and finance into the standard curriculum. “People do not realize how everything truly is a business,” says Mrs. Schwabish, AOF Coordinator. “Finance touches every area of the workforce. It does not matter if you wish to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer- everyone needs to have a foundation in business.”

AOF also offers students the opportunity to earn up to 24 college credits, as a part of an articulation agreement with Farmingdale State College, part of the SUNY system. Northport High School offers both this program, as well as the Academy of Informational Technology. Northport AOF is one of forty-two impressive schools across the U.S. that has been awarded the title of “Distinguished Academy” by NAF, and one of only eleven in the finance sector. NAF grants a distinguished status only to the schools that best exemplify the principles of their academies, and that demonstrate high academic excellence and achievements- including an essential benchmark of 100% internship placement.

Not only does the AOF program offer outstanding financial education and business professionalism, it also offers students numerous opportunities to actually get a taste of the “real” business world. The program’s industry advisory board meets once a month to help coordinate work-based learning experiences, such as mock job interviews, a guest speaker series, and “job shadows”- a career exploration activity that gives students the chance to spend time with a professional on the job, effectively allowing them to “shadow” a mentor as they go through their work day. For the past five years, AOF has also taken international trips

to learn about businesses in various parts of the world, traveling to countries such as Ireland, Scotland, England, and Switzerland. In 2017, students traveled to San Francisco and

Silicon Valley in California, visiting several large corporations such as Google, Facebook, the Federal Reserve Board and both Stanford University & Berkeley College. Students had the opportunity to learn

first-hand how these companies operate. NAF also provides “NAFTrack Certification” which was created by the financial services industry and allows students, once they have graduated from the AOF program, to be pre-screened by around 40 different corporate companies for first-line application and interview opportunities. In essence, this means that students who have completed the AOF program will be the first ones considered for internship positions in college and career placement in some of the top companies in the world. Some companies include

JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Verizon, HP, Microsoft, Marriott, and many more.

The next information session for freshmen looking to enter the AOF program will be held on December 12th, 2018 at 6:30 PM in the Small Cafeteria. For more information about the amazing opportunities offered by AOF, be sure to reach out to Mrs. Schwabish at [email protected] or visit her office in Room S-212. You can also learn more by checking out NAF’s website, www.naf.org