Palo Alto, CA –May 2, 2017 — Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit with a mission to provide a free personal finance education to all young people, is pleased to announce the winners of the Third Annual NGPF Teacher Innovator Award.  This award recognizes outstanding teachers who have developed their own projects and activities to engage and educate their students. NGPF received dozens of innovative and creative project submissions from high school and college educators. These projects were judged based on their creativity, the skills they developed and the ease with which other teachers could implement them in their own classrooms. 

Each of the winners of the 2017 NGPF Teacher Innovator Award will be receiving $1,000 from NGPF and will appear in an upcoming NGPF podcast to discuss their projects:

• Tara Kelley, Personal Finance Educator at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vermont, submitted “Spring Break Project” which allows students to explore the cost of using a credit card to pay for their Spring Break vacation. They learn through this exercise the impact that changing their monthly credit card payments has on the total interest paid.
  • Listen to Tara describe her project in this NGPF podcast 
  • Questions about this Spring Break Project? Email Tara!

• Jesse Peterkin, a Personal Finance Educator at Ridgefield High School in Ridgefield, Connecticut, uses celebrities and avatars as hooks to engage students in developing financial plans for their ‘clients’ in the project, “Create a Budget and Financial Plan.” Hat tip to Jesse for the great use of a tech tool, Voki!
  • Listen to Jesse describe his project in this NGPF podcast
  • Questions about the Create a Budget and Financial Plan lesson? Email Jesse!

• Matthew Gragg, a History Teacher at Midwest City High School in Midwest City, Oklahoma, takes a cross-curricular approach in his “Great Depression Game.”  Students see the how the Great Depression wreaked havoc upon family finances and learn how to adjust their budgets when circumstances change.
  • Matt talks about his project in this NGPF podcast 
  • Questions about Matt's Great Depression Game? Email Matt!

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About Next Gen Personal Finance

Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is a non-profit organization that believes all young people deserve a free, high-quality education to develop their financial capability. Thousands of teachers use NGPF as their core curriculum, to supplement their existing curriculum and hone their teaching craft through NGPF Professional Development activities.

NGPF provides educators with a “one-stop shop” for all of their personal finance needs. All our products and services are FREE and always will be! Here’s a sample of what we offer:

Content

• Lesson Library:  70+ curated, comprehensive lessons divided into 12 units
• Case Studies:  Eleven case studies which allow your students to apply their knowledge to real-life situations
• Data Crunch: Students hone their analytical skills with graphs and data tables infused with personal finance concepts
• Video Library: Looking for that three-minute video on investing to engage your students? Find it and dozens of others in the curated NGPF Video Library
• Interactive Library: Featuring online games, simulations, and student-driven outcomes. Guaranteed to engage your students!
• Assessments: With 800+ items in our Assessment Bank, you can find out exactly what your students know

Professional Development

• Webinars (since replaced by Virtual PD): NGPF monthly webinars provide educators with ideas and resources to engage their students in specific content areas, including paying for college, credit, how to update your checking unit and insurance
• Podcasts: The weekly NGPF Podcast features interviews with personal finance experts, including educators, journalists, company founders and other leaders in their field
• NGPF Blog: Updated daily, provides educators with case studies, questions of the day and finds creative ways to incorporate current events into your classroom

Contact:  Tim Ranzetta, founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, at tim@ngpf.org

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!