Grant to Bring Wall Street to New Bedford High School

NEW BEDFORD — New Bedford High School will look a little more like Wall Street thanks to a grant from the Baker-Polito administration.

The $125,000 grant is part of the Workforce Skills Cabinet Grant Program and will be used by New Bedford High School to construct a state-of-the-art financial laboratory that will support its Career Vocational Technical Education programming in finance and business.

The finance lab will feature high-definition stock tickers, LCD market data walls, collaboration centers, and advanced technology hardware.

“This lab provides New Bedford High School with new and expansive capabilities in financial education,” said Thomas Anderson, Superintendent of New Bedford Public Schools. “We are extremely grateful for this grant award; it represents an important long-term investment in our students and in New Bedford High School’s steady upward trajectory,” he said.

Headmaster Bernadette Coelho noted the direct impact the award will have on students. “This major grant will make a reality of the latest technology and learning tools in the establishment of a state-of-the-art Finance Lab, within which students will study everything from personal finance to the global dynamics of the stock exchange and futures markets. Our new Finance Lab comes in the wake of last year’s opening of our advanced Biotech Lab, another premier facility that is training our students for the growth jobs of the future.”

New Bedford Credit Union, a member of NBHS' Finance Advisory Committee and Finance Lab Building Committee, has pledged $5,000 in matching funds in conjunction with the announcement of the grant.