Ruben Laus - Business Finance Lab

Hello! My name is Ruben Laus. I am a senior at CART and Edison High School, currently I am in the Business Finance Lab. Last year I was a part of the Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketing lab. My experience so far here at CART has been a complete 180 of my typical school year. These labs have not only given me unique and specialized skills for business, finance, and entrepreneurship, but it has also made it clear to myself that finance is my passion! CART is unlike any other school, not only will you enhance your social and professional skills, you will gain experience that will undoubtedly prepare you for the career of whichever lab you choose. 

This week in my lab we are heavily focusing on taxes and using excel for budgeting. Learning about taxes has not only excited me to be ahead of most people my age, but it has given me much insight on what taxes are, how they are calculated and all the different types of sources of revenue that count as taxable income. We utilize excel to simulate the real costs of living expenses post graduation. As we budget our weekly and monthly expenses, we also learn how to fully use excel as we are taught things such as shortcuts and calculations we can use for budgeting and more. 

My favorite moment at CART was last year in my Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship class where we had a stock market simulation that mirrored the market in real time. We were all given 100k and all competed against each other to see who could get the highest return on their investments. This assignment spanned over 4 months, during this time I got to truly better understand how the market moves. Not only did I win this competition, being awarded a small acrylic wall street bull, but it also inspired me to invest in real life. That journey has had its ups and downs, but ultimately wouldn't have ever been a thing if not for CART. 

CART has allowed me to discover my interests and has led me towards a new direction in life through the experiences and knowledge gained from attending. I genuinely recommend whoever is reading this to either, apply to join, attend again next year, or enjoy your last year as a proud CART student. Attending CART has been the best choice I have made in my educational career and has offered me so much, I am so very grateful for all the staff and teachers.

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