HOWARD COUNTY, MD — High school students from that Applications and Research Laboratory in Ellicott City earned first runner-up honors in this year’s National Personal Finance Challenge. Competing teams showcased their understanding of an essential life skill: how to manage money, whether you have a lot of it or not much at all.
Nearly 10,000 students from more than 350 schools competed across the United States in the NPFC this spring. The competition showcases students’ ability to use their knowledge to assess a family’s financial situation and present a plan including earning, spending, saving, using credit and investing.
The Ellicott City team’s second-place win extends a Maryland winning streak started last month when Mt. Hebron High School swept teams from around the United States to win all levels of CEE’s National Economics Challenge, in which students demonstrate mastery of economic principles. Team members are Nathaniel Sager, Robby Schroeder, Noah Hoffman and Alice Jacob.
In 21 states, high school students are required to take a course in personal finance, according to CEE’s biennial Survey of the States. In other states, personal finance skills that many used to take for granted – creating budgets, understanding interest, credit and goal-setting – may not even be on the agenda.
Organized by the Council for Economic Education with help from the Nebraska Council for Economic Education, this year’s competition was held entirely online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
