Financial Literacy Month is off to a distinguished start... today we honor 21 enthusiastic educators who have earned NGPF's Distinguished Educator award!

What is the NGPF Distinguished Educator Award?

Teachers deserve recognition, respect, and honor for the outstanding work they do.

The NGPF Distinguished Educator award is one of the ways we recognize teachers' commitment to continuing education in life-changing personal finance concepts. Teachers who pass 6 or more 10-hour Certification Courses with NGPF become NGPF Distinguished Educators!

All teachers are eligible for this lifetime award, which comes with great prizes:

• a physical NGPF Distinguished Educator plaque,
• a digital NGPF Distinguished Educator badge for email signatures, and
• well-earned celebration (as below) on the NGPF website.

Meet the NEW Distinguished Educators!

Lorraine Adu-Krow from Scarsdale Middle School (NY)

Denae Bates from Llano Christian Academy (TX)

Jequetta Berry from Goza Middle School (AR)

Jennifer Brenner from River Springs Charter School (CA)

Pepper Erlinger from Frontier Charter Academy (OR)

Kevin Fleck from Edgemont High School (NY)

Christina Friday from Thompson K8 International Academy (MI)

Tina Gee from Bald Knob High School (AR)

Ann Hamil from Lawrence Virtual School (KS)

Karen Kummerlen from Palm Beach Gardens High School (FL)

Heather Lapidario from Carroll County Public Schools (MD)

Rena Lehman from Ateres Bais Yaakov Academy of Rockland (NY)

Lisa Lupkovich from Goshen Central High School (NY)

Kathy Mangelsdorf from Victory High School (CA)

Lauren Moore from Edgemont High School (NY)

Anthony Pace from Woodrow Wilson H.S. (TX)

Jennifer Russell from Shullsburg High School (WI)

Tobie Shinkle from Westwood High School (WY)

Kimberly Smith from Providence Hall (UT)

Julie Stoltz from Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School (WI)

James Winslow from Bronx High School for the Visual Arts (NY)

• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohorts 1-24, announced July 2022)
• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohorts 25-26, announced September 2022)
• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohort 27, announced November 2022)
• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohort 28, announced December 2022)
• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohort 29, announced January 2023)
• Meet the Distinguished Educators (earned Cohort 30, announced February 2023)

About the Author

Christian Sherrill

Former teacher, forever financial education nerd. As NGPF's Director of Growth & Advocacy, Christian is laser-focused on our mission to guarantee all students a rigorous personal finance course before crossing the high school graduation stage. Having paid down over $40k in student loans in the span of 3 years - while living in the Bay Area on an entry level teacher's salary - he's eager to help the next generation avoid financial pitfalls one semester at a time.