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:

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Student: Guadalupe Flores

Teacher: Alan Gersten

School: Century High School (Santa Ana, CA)

"The value of the personal finance experience in class this year was to learn how to manage money wisely. The biggest takeaway is to be responsible and pay off all your bills because you can end up in debt. Paying your bills is a huge responsibility and it has taught me to think of what I am buying first. I ask myself 'Do I really need this?'"

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Student: Maureen Brunner

Teacher: Amanda Volz

School: St Clair High School (St Clair, MI)

"A personal finance class is the most useful course one can take in school... It gave me the opportunity to figure out my personal finance style without the costly mistakes of the real world. It also opened my eyes to the importance of personal finance, as it covers so many topics that a high schooler would never even think about, like health insurance or stock market strategies."

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!