While cranking out calculations and crafting precise budgets doesn’t sound like most entertaining sorts of activities on paper, the students at Dowagiac North Pointe Center were all smiles Thursday as they learned about how to take control of their personal finances.

Eleven bankers from Huntington Bank branches across southwest Michigan volunteered their time assisting more than 25 adult education students enrolled at Lewis Cass ISD special education center, sharing with them the personal savings and smart financing tips during a daylong event last week.

Working in several team and individual based activities, the students received a few essential spending and budgeting lessons that will doubtlessly help them once they graduate from North Pointe Center.

“I think this is a great opportunity for our students,” said Susan Reynolds, the special education supervisor at North Pointe.

Among the activities on the docket Thursday included a mock exercise where the students had to plan a massive party. Working alongside Huntington Bank volunteers, the participants had to carefully determine how much money they could spend to throw a great celebration, while still staying within their budget.

This was just one of several roleplaying and hands-on lessons the bankers shared with the students that day, said Keliy Andrews, with the Dowagiac Huntington branch.

“There are a lot of fun, interactive activities,” Andrews said.

The local banker, who also helped teach personal finance at Southwestern Michigan College, has been volunteering with the ISD learning center since April, she said.

This is the first time that she has teamed up with other Huntington Bank employees to put on these types of big activities, though, using a modified version of American Bankers’ Association’s “Teach People to Save” program.

“They [the students] are learning life lessons as well, so when they get into these kinds of situations in the real world they go back to what they learned here,” Andrews said.