NGPF has trained dozens of Fellows, all phenomenal educators helping us work towards Mission: 2030 all across the country.

These educators are offered an "NPGF Personal Finance Student of the Year" award annually for one of their students.

The winning students are selected based on the following criteria:

• Taken a personal finance class in the 2020-2021 school year that was taught by the NGPF Fellow who nominated them
• Demonstrated outstanding performance or improvement in the class based on participation/academic excellence/passion for the subject matter

This week we're showcasing another group of winners and we'll share the final winners in Part 4 of this blog series next week to wrap up publicizing the complete list of winners. 

Congratulations this week go out to:

Student: Kassy Urbina

Teacher: Vincent Branch

School: Booker T. Washington High School, Houston, TX

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“The personal finance class has an enormous value that many people don't see. It provides an understanding of how much we will earn. It is what our expenses will be monthly. Also, vail us to obtain a budget within that income. In addition, it guides us to be more aware of how we spend our money and if we are making the right decisions. In my personal life, this class has helped me with many key fundamentals about money. One of them is how to save and use my money effectively when needed. It prevents me from incurring unnecessary debt and prepares me for an emergency. One factor that stuck with me is the 50-20-30 rule. The 50% spending will be on the necessary items such as bill payments and groceries. The 30% to spend on what everyone wants and 20% would go into the savings account. It is a secure foundation to start building from your finances."

-Kassy Urbina

Student: Danielle Knight

Teacher: Renee Nelson

School: KIPP NYC Prep High School, Bronx, NY 

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“Personal finance is valuable to me because it helped me to gain financial literacy. Having these skills is one of the most important things in life. Through my personal finance class I was able to learn about investing, maintaining good credit, and saving for retirement. As a result of taking this personal finance class I started saving way more money and I have definitely started making smarter decisions with my money."
Best,"

-Danielle Knight

Student: Samuel White

Teacher: Joey Running

School: West Albany High School, Albany, OR

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“Personal finance is a great class because it gives you the knowledge about how to save money for personal reasons as well as retirement. It gives you the skills to stay out of debt and what are smart spending choices vs poor spending choices. I am in the process of opening a compound interest account due to my personal finance class."

-Samuel White

Student: Daniel Gutierrez

Teacher: Brian Johnson

School:  Forest Hills Northern High School, Grand Rapids, MI

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“Every day when I walk into personal finance there is something new to learn from investing and budgeting, to saving up for retirement. After taking this class I'll know how to use my money smartly and effectively and stay away from too much debt, which nobody wants to deal with. This class has been a guide to help me in my future as an independent human. I have gained so much knowledge from this class that I did not know was necessary for my future and I would recommend this class to everyone because it is a class where you can learn important things and also have some fun while you’re doing it. Starting my day with personal finance has been awesome and it has facilitated my school day because I start out on the right foot every day. The action I took as a result of my personal finance class is that I’m more aware of what to do with my money and how to keep it safe. I definitely keep my personal information to myself and stay away from borrowing money because that can become a habit and ultimately cost me in the future. Being smart with my money will help me live a stress-free life and can help me reach my goal of being a millionaire."

-Daniel Gutierrez

About the Author

Yanely Espinal

Born and raised by Dominican, immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 2007 before going on to receive her bachelor's degree at Brown University in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, Yanely taught third and fourth grade in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She received her master's degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. She spends her spare time making YouTube videos about personal finance on her channel, MissBeHelpful. Yanely also loves to dance, sew, paint, listen to podcasts, and babysit her 10 nieces and nephews!