In Julien Meyer’s Financial Algebra classes at Severn School, students are eager to show what they’re learning. That enthusiasm isn’t simply the result of bookwork and lectures; the high schoolers become engaged and excited through games, case studies, and fun, competitive activities.

The result is impressive student performance and participation, most recently culminating with a team of Julien’s students winning the Personal Finance Challenge National Championship in May!

Julien, who has taught for 25 years and is the Chairman of the Math Department at Severn, “gamifies” his teaching in finance courses of all kinds with activities that challenge students to apply what they learn in “real” life.

For example, using an award-winning curriculum that Julien designed based on his experience working on Wall Street, students play a digital game  similar to the board game, Life. They assume the roles of recent high school graduates who don’t have financial support from their family. Over a simulated 20 years, they make decisions based on their goals, such as going to college, owning a car, renting an apartment, planning for retirement, and paying bills.

“In class, games are a jumping off point to talk with students about financial concepts and habits, from paying bills and budgeting to investing and stock trading,” explained Julien. “You can learn techniques all you want, but actually doing is the best way to improve. Students become hooked by the fun of the game, and next thing you know, they’re learning and finding passion for the content.”

As it turns out, the digital game applies directly to the curriculum covered in MCEE’s Personal Finance Challenge. “Last year, one of our student teams made it to the state finals. This year, that same team won it all. They live and breathe this stuff; it’s really a passion they share, and their performance proves that.”

Many students in Julien’s classes have an interest in finance before taking his courses, thanks to Severn’s robust extracurricular programs, which include an after school Investment Club and Student Led Investment Portfolio group where students manage a stock portfolio on behalf of the school. The school has raised $45,000 so that students can invest real money; 20% a year. The stocks that students picked last year - including Stellantis (STLA) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) - are up 25-30%!

Julien and fellow educators at the Anne Arundel County-based independent school leverage many of MCEE’s resources, including the Stock Market Game and field trips to the Finance Lab at Towson University.

“I’ve found that often, families are uncomfortable talking with children about money. Meanwhile, some schools think this learning should happen at home. That’s a disconnect that puts students behind. It’s crucial that they have this education at a young age. As a teacher, you need to be a cheerleader internally to make sure this content is taught. I’ve seen kids change their habits to take advantage of compound interest and saving at a young age. It makes such a difference for future success.”

That difference was clear at the Personal Finance Challenge National Championship in Cleveland, Ohio last month. The Severn team excelled in the competition’s case study round - thanks to preparation in class - and outdid their opponents in the quiz round. The team beat out more than 15,000 students to win the Championship.

For teachers newer to finance and financial education, Julien’s advice is simple (and flattering!): “Don’t be intimidated. Lean on MCEE. They offer wonderful programs and resources, and their goal is to help teachers become comfortable with teaching this content. When it comes to finance, the learning never stops.”

Dorchester County Public Schools

Valerie Lomax knows a thing or two about teaching financial concepts.

Valerie’s middle school students at North Dorchester Middle School have participated in MCEE’s “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” Poster Contest for over 20 years, and in almost every year, at least one of her students has been a winner. She was Dorchester County’s Teacher of the Year in 2011-2012; her video interview about teaching financial literacy was posted on the Maryland State Department of Education website.

And Valerie believes that financial education is especially important for her students living in the high-poverty county. “ I love to show my students that they can be in control of their future,” says Valerie. “No matter what their current situation is, the road ahead is in their hands.”

Valerie also appreciates how MCEE makes it easy to engage and excite students. “MCEE is wonderful,” notes Valerie, a middle school social studies teacher. “They give you everything you need and remind you what you need to do. Why doesn’t every teacher use a MCEE program in their classroom?”

Middle schools in Dorchester County are required to include a financial literacy unit in their social studies curriculum, and Valerie uses the MCEE Poster Contest to excite all her students, no matter their interest, background or style of learning. “It doesn’t feel like school work to them, “ she says. “Students who aren’t fond of writing can express their knowledge in an artistic form. Even those who don’t like art love to explain their poster to the class.”

Using MCEE’s prompts and hints to introduce financial words and phrases, Valerie shares the meaning and example of 10 terms. The class discusses each term and Valerie provides visual examples as she encourages each student to select the one that most interests them. Students then draw an illustration that explains the term and shares their posters with the class while explaining the meaning of the economic term.

“It’s a great way for kids to get started on understanding finances and economics,” says Valerie. “It’s not overwhelming. And it seems more important now than ever.”

Valerie’s current students remember the financial uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they share in class the conversations that take place at home about rising prices. “My hope is that through our financial units, students will gain the confidence to navigate through tough economic times. While they can’t change future economic conditions, they can use their knowledge and skills to make good decisions about their own financial future.”

Valerie has been teaching at North Dorchester for 30 years. When financial literacy was introduced into the curriculum, MCEE was the first place she went for resources and information, and. “they continue to be a resource for me and other teachers.” Beyond the Poster Contest, North Dorchester teachers have brought back an After School Stock Market Game Club and attended professional development workshops coordinated by MCEE.

Harford County Public Schools

For Gabriel Martinez, an accounting, finance, and business teacher at Edgewood High School in Harford County, it’s all about starting small. In his 16 years of teaching, he has seen that providing students with a brief experience to slowly catch their interest in financial education created more engagement and more impact. And he leverages MCEE resources and programs like the Personal Finance Challenge to generate that enthusiasm.

Said Gabriel, “Students don’t know something is fun until you put it in front of them, let them explore it and become comfortable. That’s when they fully engage.”

Gabriel introduces his students to financial topics that directly apply to their lives, such as how a part-time job might impact their family’s taxes or filling out a W2 for employment. He guides them through fun, quiz-like questions and in-class competitions - pulled from MCEE’s Personal Finance Challenge and other sources - to further explain concepts and ideas.

The combination of relevant content and competitive atmosphere leaves students wanting more. “After having a fun, quick classroom experience on a topic they can relate to, they're hooked,” Gabriel says. “The content in the Personal Finance Challenge gets students thinking and competing. It’s easy to pull out a question or case study, and it aligns perfectly with the curriculum. I hear it all the time ‘Mr. Martinez, when are we going to compete again?’ It’s great to see.”

This year, Gabriel answered their call, creating a school-wide Edgewood Personal Finance Challenge, drawing more than 40 student teams. “The students absolutely loved it,” explained Gabriel. “The entire day, they studied, prepared, and plotted out their presentations. They saw success and became aware of their abilities. Now they want more.”

For the teams of students at Edgewood, “more” means competing in the MCEE Personal Finance Challenge this year. It also means 480 students at Edgewood choosing a finance-focused elective. Gabriel also enhanced the program by attracting local businesses as sponsors of the competition.

Beyond the Personal Finance Challenge, Gabriel guides students through the Stock Market Game™ and  pulls lessons from it into his classroom discussions. Gabriel sits on MCEE’s Teacher Advisory Panel, which guides the organization in the development and improvement of materials, programming and professional development for the education community.

“The best thing about this work is that we interest all kinds of students - those with full rides to college and others who may want to start a business of their own,” said Gabriel, "This learning will have a real, long term impact on their lives.” 

Harford County Public Schools

In Dawn Jester’s 6th grade Contemporary World Geography class at North Harford Middle School in Harford County, the conversations range from political systems and market structures to choosing meals and playing sports. The latter subjects may sound odd for a social studies class, but according to the veteran teacher, that’s exactly the point.

“My students initially think of money when I introduce economics,” explained Dawn. “But that perception changes when I convey the nature of economic decision making; every day we're faced with decisions and choices - all of which have opportunity costs, incentives, and benefits. The range of topics they can relate to draws them in.”

Dawn - a teacher of more than 21 years - has been leveraging MCEE’s educator training to refine her teaching practice and engage students.

“I’ve been attending MCEE’s programs for more than 20 years,” explained Dawn. “They not only help educators who may not yet be comfortable teaching this content, but also veteran teachers looking for new concepts and tools for their work with students.”

Dawn’s approach to teaching works. “Once students understand the breadth of economic thinking, the lightbulb goes off and we start applying it everywhere. Despite being just 10 or 11, my students truly begin thoughtfully discussing decisions of all kinds - sports, meals, markets and more. They know more than many might give them credit for!”

Dawn’s methods have been so impactful with students that MCEE enlists her to share her insights at its professional development programs, including workshops and collaborative sessions that give teachers tools and knowledge to enhance their teaching in the classroom.

Said Dawn, “As a presenter, I’m challenged to improve, refine, learn and relearn economics content, all of which means better experiences for our students. I want teachers to walk away from these training sessions with tools they can immediately use in their classrooms. The learning should never stop!”

We couldn’t agree more!

Frederick County Public Schools

Jaci Drass, a first grade teacher at Urbana Elementary in Frederick County, is always looking for content that will interest her students as she explores creative approaches to teaching. And for 19 years, it’s led to strong interest from her students in discussions about personal finance and eager participation in MCEE’s Poster Contest.

“I don’t think you can start teaching personal finance early enough,” explained Jaci. “As students get older, they need this information in life. Plus, they really, really like it!”

To begin to make them aware of concepts in personal finance, Jaci engages her students in conversations about financial decisions. For example, when she needs to purchase something for their classroom, she talks with her students to think of options and the price of each item.

“Involving kids in those decisions teaches them the personal finance habits of being a thoughtful shopper and consumer. Sometimes they may want a more pricey product, such as a Disney puzzle. But after talking about the benefits and options for high-quality affordable alternatives, the lessons come easy.”

In Frederick County,  the social studies curriculum includes a unit on economics. “The unit is helpful, but  I’m always looking for ways to add some extra enriching activities. That’s where MCEE comes in,” said Jaci.

To increase student engagement and understanding, Jaci encourages her students to participate in MCEE’s A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words Poster Contest. Her entire class participates, and some of her students are usually selected as winners. Jaci’s students have made posters about scarcity, goods and services, and even productive resources.

Jaci feels that “kids at this age often express themselves better through art than words. The Poster Contest makes that easy.” Every year, Jaci takes her winning students to MCEE’s Annual Awards event. “The kids love heading to Towson for the event! They return to school very proud, touting their medals.”

Jaci also takes advantage of MCEE’s resources for educators, including tips on the MCEE website with ideas for applying important lessons in the classroom. Find those resources and learn more, here.

Howard County Public Schools

When students at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City first walk into Vann Prime’s AP Economics classroom, many don’t know what to expect. To them, economics might mean complex accounting or business earnings’ analyses. But when class begins, they’re captivated.

Vann is telling a story of how Mexico City, one of the world’s most polluted cities, enacted a law where citizens can only drive every other day based on their license plate numbers. The animated class discussion ranges from possible license plate forgeries to the implications of buying another car. Through it all, Vann links students’ observations to fundamental economic concepts like scarcity, opportunity cost, incentives and unintended consequences.

To students who expected to be learning wonky formulas or complicated concepts, the conversation may have been surprising. But if you ask Vann, who is now in his 19th year of teaching, it shouldn’t be.

“Economics concepts are applicable to everyone at every moment of their life. It's about the choices we make every day. I teach students by focusing on the basics and applying them to real world experiences. In a decade, they may not remember the intricacies of monetary policy, but if they can remember concepts like scarcity, costs and benefits, and demand, they’ll make better decisions in life. Economics is the intellectual underpinning for good decision making - including in personal finance.”

More than 150 Mount Hebron students take the elective class each year, making it one of the largest AP Economics programs in Maryland. Vann works with MCEE to leverage educational resources, and his students compete in MCEE’s Economics Challenge - Mount Hebron students have won the Maryland Economics Challenge state championship 18 times and the national championship seven times, including last year! “We've grown a very close relationship over the years. I would do anything to help MCEE and to promote economics education statewide. It’s so important.“

Vann’s impactful teaching is garnering attention. Last year, he won the Council on Economic Education’s  John Morton Award - a prestigious national honor for excellence in the teaching of economics - stemming from nominations by MCEE of our state’s strongest educators.

Says Vann, “It's so vital to good citizenship and making good human beings to understand that nothing is free; if kids can embrace that, I'm happy. This kind of learning is one of the greatest educational gifts we could pass on to young people.”

Kevin Cromer

Prince George's County Public Schools

Kevin Cromer, a teacher at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Prince George’s County, began one of his lessons with a look at the news. He scrolled online through stories until he saw one about student loan forgiveness. That was the impetus for mock-debates and discussions with his students about loans.The learning progression for students was simple and natural, and that made it impactful. “First, we discussed why people take out loans,” explained Kevin. “This naturally led the discussion toward savings, which then fed right into talking about investing. After that, we began MCEE’s Stock Market Game™ and Investwrite, and students really took off with it.”

This inquiry-based approach in an AVID Class - a college and career readiness elective - reflects Kevin’s teaching style during his 29 year career; he identifies something relevant to students, turns it into a discussion point, and encourages their questions and ideas to drive home lessons. Students take AVID every other day, where they explore critical thinking, inquiry, and self-advocacy. By going a step further and incorporating MCEE resources, Kevin’s students will be ahead in terms of personal finance, which is now a mandatory course for high school graduation in Prince George's County Public Schools.

And MCEE’s guidance and resources support Kevin’s process through fun student activities, detailed background information, and helpful prompts. “This learning is crucial. When I was growing up, we didn’t learn about financial literacy,” he explained. “We’re now helping students build skills and habits that will stick with them for life.” I teach students about managing money by making plans for their college expenses. They learn to figure out what college will cost, research how much things will cost, and create a budget for how to spend their money.”

Inspired by their personal finance education, some of Kevin’s students opened savings accounts during class. Others shared their experiences learning about personal finance with their families. “I’ve had parents tell me how their child is excited to learn more and how they’re watching news and doing research on their own.”  Students aren’t the only ones learning through MCEE’s programs. Said Kevin, “I didn’t know much about the stock market when getting started, but MCEE changed that. They answer questions, visit classrooms, and guide teachers every step of the way with lesson plans, videos and workshops.”

Kevin has also taken advantage of the class field trip opportunity offered by MCEE in partnership with the Towson University CBE. The field trip includes a visit to the Finance Lab on the TU campus where students learn about compound interest and investment research in a simulated wall street trading floor experience. To assist his students with synthesizing what they have learned about personal finance and investing, Kevin encouraged his students to submit essays for the InvestWrite writing competition. One of his students submitted an essay that won first prize in the State of Maryland! Read the essay here. This year, he hopes to turn the Stock Market Game™ into an after school program. 

“Go for it,” advises Kevin. “Even if you feel like you don’t know enough as a teacher, don’t be nervous. MCEE is there to help; take their courses, access their resources. You don’t need to be an expert to have success.”

Kimberly Jackson

Montgomery County Public Schools

Kimberly Jackson has two sayings she tells her students repeatedly: “just because you have money doesn’t mean you know or understand money,” and “nobody plans to fail, they just fail to plan.”

The lessons in these phrases illustrate Kimberly’s thoughtful approach to teaching personal-finance. For the past 23 years, she has taught business and accounting in Montgomery County with the past 13 years at Gaithersburg  High School. While Gaithersburg High doesn’t offer a dedicated course in personal finance, Kimberly is stepping up to ensure students are exploring personal finance concepts that will change their lives - infusing this learning into class conversations and sponsoring an extracurricular club. In doing so, she has been leveraging MCEE resources and competitions.

“By the time my students reach my classroom, they care about and think about money,” explained Kimberly. “And through honest conversations about personal finance, students see quickly that this is information they want and need in order to be successful. From there, the questions and ‘ah-hah’ moments come naturally. MCEE is a great help in providing activities, lessons, and resources that enhance these conversations.”

12 years ago, Kimberly began sponsoring “The Millionaire's Club” - an extracurricular student group that meets twice a month to learn about personal finance, hear from guest speakers, and compete in activities like the Stock Market Game™. Today, the club boasts more than 40 students - one of the more popular clubs in the school.   Kimberly’s determined and flexible approach to teaching personal finance - sponsoring a club, sparking class conversations and creating lessons and projects in spite of there being no dedicated class, is an immeasurable benefit to her students.

“We recently did a lesson where I challenged students to pick a college and look up the full cost of attending,” said Kimberly. “Some students came back thinking a one-year's worth of tuition was what the full four years cost. It was an eye-opening experience that demonstrates how much this education is needed.”

Students in Kimberly’s classes are exploring credit, learning simple tips for saving (“save your change!” says Kimberly), and understanding interest, long term growth of stocks, and college expenses. Kimberly also works with MCEE to guide students in the Stock Market Game™ and the Personal Finance Challenge.

“These concepts can apply to any subject. And many of my students may not have been exposed to these conversations or concepts at home. A student approached me the other day and said everyone is telling them to go to college, but nobody is taking the time to discuss the costs. This needs to change.”  The lessons learned are sticking with students - growth Kimberly knows is imperative for their futures.

“We set students up for financial challenges if we don’t give them tools to navigate their finances after high school,” said Kimberly. “Students need to hear these messages over and over again. Anyone who can share personal finance knowledge with students - no matter the subject you teach or the role you play - will enhance their learning opportunities should do so.”

Amy Cargiulo

Howard County Public Schools

For almost two decades, Amy Cargiulo has witnessed first-hand the power of personal finance education. As a fifth grade Gifted and Talented Resource Teacher at Waverly Elementary in Howard County, she finds it on the faces of students participating in MCEE’s Stock Market Game™, in the insightful questions they bring from home, and in the stories she hears from former students!  

Today, Amy guides more than 100 students a year to be part of the Stock Market Game™. And throughout their experience, she encourages them to remember something important: always reflect! 

“I want my students talking and thinking about what they are learning as much as possible,” she says. “And with something as fun and hands-on as the Stock Market Game™, that’s no problem. Students excitedly discuss ideas and questions non-stop - even bringing conversations home and questions to the class from their families.” 

Those reflections result in thoughtful student essays submitted to MCEE’s Investwrite competition, a Stock Market Game™ companion program that challenges participants to share their experiences and lessons. Her students are thinking deeper, and through participation in Investwrite, organizing what they learn into a narrative - thereby retaining the information and setting themselves up for success. Amy ensures all of her students participating in the Stock Market Game™ enter Investwrite. 

To help, MCEE is on hand to answer questions and provide regular workshops and educator sessions that give teachers the context, expertise, and strategies they need to make the most of student participation in these engaging competitions (educators can check out the MCEE event calendar for the latest!). 

It’s clear from student essay responses that the approach sticks. Amy regularly welcomes former students back to class to share their journeys towards financial success thanks to lessons learned in her class. She even helped some former students start a Stock Market Game club at the high school they now attend! 

Amy’s introduction to personal finance education in the classroom began almost twenty years ago, when “a colleague was working with MCEE on the Stock Market Game™ before she literally fell off a horse, and had me jump in and cover the program! She thankfully ended up being okay, but I was enthralled with the value of this experience for students. I dove in head first and haven’t looked back!” 

Along the way, MCEE has been there to support her. “MCEE is absolutely wonderful. They are always available to answer any questions I have and provide resources I knew (or didn’t know!) I needed.”  That support goes both ways. Amy, now a proven, successful educator in personal finance, has served on MCEE’s advisory board - helping us refine, enhance, and improve our resources and guidance for teachers statewide - no matter the subject. 

 Kurt Marx