Eureka Springs High School teacher David Parkman admits he was well into adulthood before he learned about the importance of a good credit score.

“I didn’t have any clue about credit scores until I was in my late 20s,” he said. “I thought, why am I paying so much for stuff? It was something we had to learn on our own.”

Parkman hopes things are different for kids these days. He knows they are for students in his economics and personal finance class at ESHS.

“When I was in high school in the late ’80s and in the ’90s we didn’t get economics, we didn’t get personal finance,” he said. “Becoming an adult I realized it was something I missed out on. It’s the most important class kids are going to take and is something they use every day in their life.”

Taking it a step further, Parkman has brought in representatives from local banks for students to get firsthand exposure to the different aspects of banking and finance.

Representatives from Equity Bank in Eureka Springs talked to approximately 50 juniors and seniors last week about the importances of investing, saving and being responsible with credit.

“I think it’s important to bring in the local bankers who specialize in lending, saving, investing and retirements,” Parkman said. “It helps the students understand things more instead of just talking about it in class.

“I do a good job of explaining things but it’s always good to hear it from people who are in the field in the profession. I’m not a banker, I’m not a stockbroker or a financier so it’s nice to hear it from the people who are right there and do it every day and answer the questions that sometimes I can’t answer.”

Equity Bank vice president and loan manager Jay Ertel, market president Elizabeth Kelley and branch manager Christan Anderson gave students $2 bills for each question asked during the presentation, Parkman said.

“So, they asked a lot of questions,” he said. “Which is good.”

Some of the main topics discussed were credit cards and saving for the future.

“There’s always the saying to not get a credit card, that credit cards are bad,” Parkman said. “Not all credit cards are bad. They can be bad if you don’t use them correctly and I know that’s something that the bankers focused on. Saving, investing, starting a retirement fund or a mutual fund.

“The students got to learn about a compound interest calculator and how if you save so much over the next 30 years or so, how much they would have.

“Hopefully, for these kids, learning these kind of things will be a huge advantage for them in the future.”

Parkman, who has been with ESHS since 2012, said bringing in financial representatives from the community is something he hopes to continue in the future, along with out-of-the-box concepts he exposes his students to on a regular basis.

“One of the things we do in class when it’s tax time is we file our taxes,” he said. “It’s optional and the kids don’t have to file their taxes [in class]. We walk through the online tax software and see how easy it is.

“It’s free for them. They don’t have to pay someone.”