Ames Leber

John Sabol’s accounting class helps students learn basic accounting skills and terms.

One of BSM’s business teachers, John Sabol, claims that Accounting 1 is the most beneficial class to take in high school. He says this class will set students up for success in college and beyond. He believes that it allows students to learn basic business skills and terms they will need in the real world.

Many business classes are offered at BSM: Personal Financial Management, Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Introduction to Business, Accounting 1 and 2, and more. While these classes are all known and sought after at BSM, Accounting 1 is the one class in particular that is widely marketed as being the most important business class for students to take. “You can think of accounting as being the language of Business,” Sabol said.

Accounting 1 is widely known as a basic fundamental of business, but not many people know why. Sabol has very strong beliefs about the role that Accounting 1 has played in students’ lives, and he strives to make sure that the class continues to positively influence students’ futures. “The first reason [why Accounting 1 is helpful in the real world] is that you can apply some of the ideas broadly to your life. [For example,] keeping track of how you’re spending your money so that you’re not overspending, and then you can figure out, am I succeeding from a financial perspective [and] am I doing a good job of managing my own personal life,” Sabol said.

Just to Sabol’s point, many people believe that Accounting 1 has changed their lives for the better. Accounting 1 has the goal of not only teaching the basics of accounting but also teaching students basic money knowledge and management skills that they will need for the rest of their lives. “It’s helped me a lot with handling my own finances as a high schooler and as I’m learning to deal with my own money. I think it really prepared me for being able to handle my own money in college and how to be smart with my finances as I enter the adult world,” senior Nelle Teitscheid said.

Accounting 1 helps not only current students at BSM but also high school graduates. Accounting 1 is a class that all business majors will have to take in college so that they can learn the basics of the world of business. The downside of waiting to take Accounting 1 for the first time in college is that the professors teach very fast and assume that students have already taken an accounting class in high school. So, either taking Accounting 1 in high school or knowing someone who took the class in high school is a helpful way to approach college-level business classes. “My brother is in college right now and he’s taking a beginner accounting class, and he texted me for help with his homework, and I knew what he was doing, and I was able to help him. So I think that that shows that this class is for sure going to help you set up for college. Mr Sabol knows what he’s doing,” junior Chelsea Schmidt said.