BY SYDNEY CHEN ’27
With the 2026-2027 school year comes a new College Board course: AP Business with Personal Finance. At Jericho Senior High School, juniors and seniors can take the new course taught by business department teachers Ms. Soltan, Ms. Izzo, and Mr. Bauer.
Rather than engaging with typical lectures, students in AP Business with Personal Finance jump straight into the world of business through hands-on learning. On the first day of school, students formed small groups for an activity called “Entry Event: Cookie Business.” Each group developed a cookie business idea and considered how its product could stand out from competitors.
Ms. Soltan had tried the activity herself during a summer training session and wanted students to experience its quick pace and learning purpose. “I wanted to challenge students to work with new people on day one and develop a solution in a short amount of time,” she said.
That first activity gave students a preview of the projects ahead. According to Ms. Soltan, the course includes many simulations, as well as a major assignment called the Business Canvas Project. Students will develop a business idea and work through product development, customer research, marketing, and financial planning.
For Ms. Izzo, bringing those areas together is what sets AP Business apart from Jericho’s other business courses. “Students aren’t just learning about accounting, marketing, management, finance, or entrepreneurship as separate topics,” she said. “They understand how those pieces connect inside a business by applying them and learning from their mistakes along the way.”
Senior Belinda B. said that the new AP Business class has already changed how she sees the everyday choices that businesses make. “I was surprised by how much thinking goes into business decisions,” said Belinda B. ’27. Belinda now notices the strategy behind a store’s pricing and a brand’s advertising, whether she is scrolling past an ad or walking into a store.
From pitching a cookie business on the first day to noticing business decisions in daily life, students are beginning to see how the ideas they learn in class apply outside of the classroom.
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