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: Justin Thomas

Teacher: Sue Suttich

School: Tigard High School (Tigard, OR)

"The value of a personal finance class is worth all of your financial mistakes you make in your future. I have learned so much in personal finance and especially wealth management about saving, investing, and everything else that comes with money... I will be getting a job this summer and putting the maximum amount of money I can into a retirement plan because time is money."

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Student: Peter LoSasso

Teacher: Sara Shackett

School: Lakewood High School (Lakewood, CO)

"My personal finance class was, hands down, the most useful class I've ever taken... I have gotten a credit card as to start building good credit (a necessity for many future opportunities), looked more carefully at college and the cost of living, and even made goals for my future self to accomplish."

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!