Feature Interview: Darren Chow | UC Berkeley
Senior Peer Educator at Bears For Financial Success (BFFS)
This week, we interviewed Darren Chow, a Senior Peer Educator at Bears For Financial Success. He told us about BFFS’s financial wellness mission and how their team provides the campus community with helpful workshops on credit cards, budgeting, debt payoff, etc. Students are also able to schedule one-on-one appointments with trained peer educators to better organize their personal finances—a service that Darren made use of himself when he was a freshman. To learn more about his experiences at BFFS, read the whole interview here.
Organization
BFFS (Bears For Financial Success) at UC Berkeley
Name and Position in Organization
Darren Chow, Senior Peer Educator
💡 What is the BFFS’ purpose/mission?
Bears for Financial Success (BFFS) is a peer-to-peer financial wellness program, affiliated with the Financial Aid Office, that helps students better manage their personal finances — while on-campus and for the rest of their lives.
💡 What services does BFFS offer Berkeley students and/or the Berkeley community?
BFFS provides two main services for the Berkeley community: personal appointments and workshops. Students can schedule 60 min appointments to sit one-on-one with our trained peer educators to discuss whatever financial questions or concerns they may have. Typically, we’ll make a personalized spending plan so that students can budget and plan for the future while answering any personal finance questions they may have. We also facilitate larger-scale workshops on a variety of topics such as “Making a Spending Plan,” “Credit Cards,” “Managing Debt,” etc. Organizations can schedule these presentations for their members, and our peer educations will actually go out to their spaces to present.
In the Spring, we also host our campus’ Financial Wellness Day. We put on a big event with various activities and giveaways with the intention of promoting financial literacy and wellness among the student body!
💡 Why did you decide to join BFFS?
I decided to join BFFS in my freshman year because I wanted to support myself through school while learning important skills that would benefit me beyond my time at Berkeley. When I found the listing for BFFS, I found an opportunity to prepare myself for the complicated world of personal finance while giving back to my communities. My work with BFFS has taught me invaluable financial wellness lessons and allowed to make a tangible impact in the lives of other students.
💡 What kind of work do you do in BFFS?
As the senior peer educator with the program, much of my time is spent scheduling programs and supporting our other peer mentors in their appointments. My goal is to strengthen and expand our partnerships with student-led and institutional organizations to reach more students in need. At the same time, I still conduct individual appointments and facilitate workshops when necessary.
💡 What are the most important lessons or experiences you’ve gained from your work with BFFS?
That oftentimes the best thing we can do is swallow our pride and ask for help. There are so many resources that exist to support us if we can find the humility to reach out to them. At the same time, it takes initiative to be honest with oneself and admit that we can’t, and shouldn’t, suffer alone.
💡 What kind of impact has BFFS created thus far, and what are your goals for BFFS’ continued and future impact?
In the six years since BFFS’ creation, we’ve grown from a budding program helping only a handful of students a semester to now reaching dozens of students in personal appointments and hundreds through our various presentations. BFFS has become a nexus for personal finance knowledge that grows exponentially each year. My goals for the program are to further cement the partnerships we’ve developed with other campus partners and elevate the reach of our program to ensure that anyone who needs our resources knows that we have their back.
Learn more about BFFS:
Brought to you by Pluto Money 🚀— the only free spending & saving app built for college students, trusted & loved across 1500+ campuses and featured as Apple’s App of the Day! Now available on the App Store.
