SHS juniors Charlie Hartwell and Jake O’Malley have recently founded a new club: The Real Estate Club. The club will “strive to promote students’ knowledge of finance and how to invest in real estate.”

Although SHS offers an abundance of clubs, co-founders of the Real Estate Club, Hartwell and O’Malley, realized there aren’t any clubs that teach students how to be financially successful after high school. They believed SHS needed a club to educate students focused on real estate and investments—important knowledge that benefits all students. With passions “about finance” and a goal of “being on track to becoming financially independent,” the founders created the club with the faculty advisor and SHS business teacher Eric Fagerlund to “share valuable information with Scituate High School students.” 

Hartwell has been learning about real estate and finance for “about two years,” and it’s been one of his passions ever since. He is mostly self taught and has learned through podcasts, YouTube videos and published articles. At the Real Estate Club, Hartwell hopes to teach others his knowledge but also learn more about real estate himself. 

When asked what club participation could look like, SHS junior Colton Downing described it as “finding properties on Zillow, creating budgets, and learning about how to make a profit from a property.” Downing explained, “The club teaches students the basics of real estate.” 

Many students do not have any real estate knowledge, so at meetings, they start with learning about loans, mortgages and other vocabulary terms the members should know. The club hopes to teach students about different types of loans and real estate as the club progresses.

Without any advertisement, the Real Estate Club already has around 20 members. Hartwell and O’Malley hope to gain more participants from all grade levels. The Real Estate Club meets the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month, after school, in room 127. If you’re interested in joining, contact Mr. Fagerlund at ef[email protected].