Would you let a teenager file your taxes? That’s not a riddle, but a reality at Rancho Cucamonga High School in the Southern California city of the same name. There, a group of students trained in tax filing and led by accounting teacher Chris Van Duin help run a free clinic for community members.
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The clinic exists thanks to an Internal Revenue Service program called VITA, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. As a result, the students get to assist people in need and learn valuable life skills (and they get breakfast burritos brought by Van Duin). Many of them are thinking about finance careers in the future — Calob Chavez, 17, told The New York Times he wants to be an investment banker, while Destiny Linda, 17, plans to get her doctorate in business.
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For now, though, they’re focused on figuring out tax returns for others, and sometimes themselves. “I work at Taco Bell,” said Nicholas Rosales, a 16-year-old who serves as Van Duin’s teaching assistant. “I got an $8 refund. Which is $8 I can buy more candy with.”