Protégé Program | ThriveTime For Teens

Protégé Program | ThriveTime for Teens

By Guest Blogger, Angela J. Totman

In today’s collaborative business environment and with the growing priority for positive social influence, it is not surprising that many professionals, entrepreneurs and though leaders seek to participate in a protégé program as part of their give back. Whether through formal programs or individual initiatives, lending insight and guidance is one of the most rewarding and effective ways to give a hand up to others.

At Pay Your Family First, our mission includes teaching financial education to youth in a relevant and immediately applicable way. We do this through our ThriveTime for Teens board game and in the process are able to create a community of protégés that advocate for the importance of what they’ve learned. Although it doesn’t take a tremendous amount of structure, there are a few key elements to an effective protégé program. They are:

1. A desired beneficial outcome. Our desired outcome is that youth receive the benefit of increased comprehension of money related concepts and that they can immediately apply the lessons learned through game play. We use surveys and questionnaires before and after game play to measure our outcomes.

2. A method for delivery or facilitation of the beneficial outcome. Using the ThriveTime for Teens game as a tool is a fun and relatable way for us to deliver education. It is not only effective, but it takes the burden of the instruction process away from a specific leader and relies on the functionality of the game and the decision making process through game play to create “aha!” moments for players.

3. A succession/continuation process. Because the game is relevant, effective and fun, it lends itself to its own perpetual cycle. This is because the youth that play the game then go on and share it with their friends and classmates who go on to do the same. The game is infinitely reusable and can therefore be a perpetual vehicle for anyone wishing to carry the banner for financial education.

It was through my informal protégé program with Sharon Lechter that I have had the honor to lead the charge in Pay Your Family First’s community programs using the ThriveTime for Teens game. By using the game, we not only see results with an increased understanding of financial concepts, but we but we also facilitated a way for those youth and other concerned adults to continue sharing money and life lessons to friends, family members and students. This is done around dining room tables, in classroom, churches and in youth organizations.

To learn more about the ThriveTime for Teens game and how you can support our efforts in creating a generation of financially capable protégés, please visit www.thrivetimegame.com