The present work is the result of a research carried out at the end of an improvement course in Education, Poverty and Social Inequality, at the Federal University of Espírito Santo and its general objective is to present the concepts of poverty expressed by students from the Marilândia agricultural family school, in the state of Espírito Santo, bridging the students' prior knowledge with the theoretical field. The school receives between 30 and 40% of students annually linked to the Bolsa Família Program, and we have identified a tendency to conceptualize poverty only by the financial aspect, highlighting the need to deepen the knowledge in the school's curricular field towards understanding poverty as a multifaceted phenomenon. The students surveyed understand the importance of the Bolsa Família program as an important step towards overcoming social inequalities and reducing poverty in the country, with no signs of prejudice against the program.