To acknowledge the efforts that teachers put into their classes, NGPF Fellows have the option to award a 'Personal Finance Student of the Year Award' to one student with outstanding contributions in their personal finance class. The Fellow selects a student based on the following criteria:

• The student has taken the Fellow's personal finance class in the 2018-2019 school year
• The student has demonstrated outstanding performance in the class based on their participation, academic excellence, and passion for the subject. 

We'll showcase 2 students per week who will also share how they benefited from having a personal finance education in high school.

Congratulations this week go to:

-----

Student: Heather Hamade

Teacher: Derek D'Angelo

School: Eisenhower High School (Shelby Township, MI)

"A personal finance is profoundly important in its value. It teaches a person how to manage their income according to several factors. For instance, it teaches someone how to pay attention to opportunity costs. Finance class also teaches someone how to plan ahead and save for future plans like retirement, unexpected medical care, or even desired trips or consumption of certain goods."

-----

Student: Mary Isaak

Teacher: James Redelsheimer

School: Robbinsdale Armstrong High School (Plymouth, MN)

"Money was always something I feared, especially these past few years. The fear of not having enough money to support my future family and life weighed heavily on my shoulders to the point that I didn't event want to think about growing up. This all changed during my personal finance unit. Learning about mutual funds, compound interest, and credit really interested me."

About the Author

Laura Matchett

After graduating with an education degree and spending 7 years in an elementary classroom, Laura made the switch to the non-profit world and loves interacting with students, educators and business professionals across the country. She is passionate about all students having access to high quality education and views personal finance education as one way to ‘level the playing field’. When Laura is not locating or creating high quality educational resources, you can find her mountain biking or searching for the best ramen in town!