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.”