HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — As more and more collegiate and high school athletes cash in on their name, image and likeness through new rules and regulations, schools like Spire Academy are leaning into financial literacy programs.
"It's really important — everyone should know how to handle money," said Sophia De Grazia, a student at Spire Academy.
WATCH: Here's how Spire Academy is encouraging students to learn financial literacy
Five years ago, college athletes were allowed to start earning money from their name, image and likeness — known as NIL.
This past November, Ohio extended the same opportunity to high school athletes.
That shift has prompted Spire to overhaul and ramp up its financial literacy curriculum.
"We try to balance it here at Spire; when they leave us, they're strong academically and strong in their sport as well," said Rachel Gonatas, dean of academics at Spire Academy. "It's definitely a high priority for us. We want to make sure they're not just blindly trusting others, how to ask the right questions — get the right people on their team."
Senior year is already one of the most demanding times in a young athlete's life. For Saleem Hassoun, a swimmer at Spire Academy in Ashtabula County, the pressure comes with an added layer: building his personal brand.
"It showed me a different side of the sport — not just swimming-wise," Hassoun said. "I can use myself as a brand."
Spire Academy is an elite boarding school that trains and educates roughly 240 student athletes, many of them international. Given that, Gonatas points out that many of their students are trying to learn to balance their own brands and financial literacy at the same time as acclimating to living in the U.S.
"Our kids are faced quicker with things — sometimes they're on their own quicker than a typical student's college person would even do," Gonatas said.
In 2022, Gov. Mike DeWine mandated that all Ohio high schoolers complete one half-credit course in financial literacy.
For Gonatas, that requirement is just the beginning. Spire is looking to expand financial education beyond traditional classes and into clubs and other groups as well.
"Students deserve the right to manage their own money," Gonatas said. "They need to know how to do that."
For Hassoun, the opportunity is about more than just swimming scholarships.
"I might not get the scholarship I want, but I might get the money I deserve," Hassoun said.
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
