AWARDS EVENT PRESS RELEASE       

STUDENTS FROM ACROSS MARYLAND WIN STATEWIDE FINANCIAL LITERACY AND ECONOMICS COMPETITIONS

More than 100 elementary, middle and high school students from 13 Maryland counties were honored on Wednesday, May 18 2022, by the Maryland Council on Economic Education (MCEE) as winners of its statewide financial literacy and economics competitions. The students were celebrated at an annual luncheon and awards ceremony - MCEE’s first in-person awards ceremony in three years - attended by more than 200 guests at Towson University.

Nearly 20,000 students from 20 Maryland counties and Baltimore City participated in the MCEE-organized competitions this school year - the most students ever participating in MCEE programs.

Awards were presented to winning students in these competitions:

• Stock Market Game™ is an educational simulation that teaches about the world of investing, the American economic system and the global economy. Students work in teams to invest and managing an imaginary $100,000 portfolio while developing skills in math, language arts, research and critical thinking.
• InvestWrite Essay Competition: a national writing competition that reinforces the economic concepts students learned by participating in the Stock Market Game™.     
• Maryland Personal Finance Challenge: an academic competition that provides high school  teams from across the state with the opportunity to learn and demonstrate knowledge and application of personal finance concepts during a one-day academic competition. The competition is sponsored by M&T Bank, StateFarm, First Financial Federal Credit Union, Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union, Towson University College of Business & Economics.
• The Maryland Economics Challenge: the only program of its kind that tests micro and        macroeconomic principles as well as knowledge of the world economy in one-day competitions. 
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: a creative competition where students demonstrate their understanding of economic concepts. 

The winning students, listed by county, are:

Anne Arundel County: 

• Stock Market Game™:
• • The team of Om Desai, Ethan Haslup, Ethan Howe, John Greenwalt, Ethan Nauroth, and Varesah Wilkerson from Arundel High School - high school state champions of the yearlong Stock Market Game™
  • The team of Koli Pendergraph, Alejandro Williamson, Zoey Zhangfrom Piney Orchard Elementary school in Odenton - elementary school Southern Region winners
  • A team of students from Central Middle School in Edgewater - middle school Spring state champions 
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Sixth graders MeiHei Chan and Lillian Oberlander from Crofton Middle School, and second grader Carys Kuhn from Piney Orchard Elementary School 

Baltimore County:

• Stock Market Game™: 
• • The team of Benjamin Boxler, Raquel Okai, Ryan Okai from Sparks Elementary - elementary school state champions of the yearlong Stock Market Game™. The team is sponsored by First Financial Federal Credit Union.  
  • The team of Darren Hiller from Loyola Blakefield Middle School in Towson - middle school state champion of the yearlong Stock Market Game™. The team is sponsored by First Financial Federal Credit Union.   
  • The team of Henry Byran, Gavin Chung, Andrew Hanna, and Spencer Pettit from The Jemicy school in Owings Mills - middle school Northern Region winners of the Spring Stock Market Game™. 
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Sixth grader Graham TerBeek from Dumbarton Middle School in Towson

Calvert County: 

• Stock Market Game™: The team of Kaylee Rossi and Samantha Winston from Northern Middle School in Owings - middle school Southern Region winners 
• Investwrite Essay Competition: Madalyn Sokolov from Northern Middle School - winner of the Grades 6-8 Division

Carroll County: 

• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Eighth graders Suniti Das and Caitlyn Dean from Sykesville Middle School

Dorchester County: 

• Financial LIteracy Poster Competition: second grader Addison Maier from South Dorchester School and third graders Kyla Jones and Kendall Bradford from North Dorchester Middle School

Frederick County: 

• Stock Market Game™: The team of Luke Adams, Zach Ahern, Oliver Ellison, and Xavier Phillips from Brunswick High School - high school Northern Region winners
• Financial LIteracy Poster Competition: Third grader Brianna Barth from Blue Heron Elementary School, third grader Ryan Robbins from Deer Crossing Elementary School, and first graders Izzy Hite and Wesley Hardin from Liberty Elementary School

Harford County:

• Stock Market Game™: 
• • The team of Lara Caba, Ella LaFleur, Isabella Watson from Homestead Wakefield Elementary School in Bel Air - elementary school state champions. The team is sponsored by APG Federal Credit Union.
  • A team of fifth graders from Roye Williams Elementary School in Havre de Grace - elementary school Northern Region winners. The team is sponsored by APG Federal Credit Union.
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Third grader Jose Gable from Meadowvale Elementary School in Havre de Grace 

Howard County: 

• Stock Market Game™: The team of Courtney Brooks, Charlotte Mager, and Arnali Tellis from Bonnie Branch Middle School in Ellicott City - Central Region winners 
• Maryland Personal Financial Challenge: The “AOF1” Team ”of Nathaniel Sager, Noah Hoffman, Anuj Alamasety, and David Liu from Applications and Research Lab in Ellicott City 
•  Maryland Economics Challenge
• • The “Hayek’s Hammer” Team'' of Dhishan Reddy, Summit Sarkar, David Lieman, and Sahith Mada - juniors from Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City  - winner of the Adam Smith Division. 
  • The “Smith’s Scythe’s” Team” of Alex Nath, Diego Salamanca, and Nandhu Pillai - sophomores from Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City - winners of the David Ricardo Division.
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Sixth graders Julie Gable and Varshini Padmanaban from Patapsco Middle School in Ellicott City
• Investwrite Essay Competition: Fifth grader Humza Nooruddin from Pointers Run Elementary School in Clarksville - winner of the Grades 4-5 Division

Montgomery County: 

• Stock Market Game™
• • A team of students from Clarksburg High School - spring high school state champions 
  • A team of students from Damascus High School - spring high school Central Region winners
    

Prince George’s County: 

• Stock Market Game™: one team of students from Crossland High School, sponsored by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) - Southern Region winners

Queen Anne’s County: 

• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Chloe Hernandez, a sixth-grader from Centreville Middle School

Wicomico County: 

• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: fourth graders Annie Richerson and Jeremy Quan from North Salisbury School

Worcester County: 

• Investwrite Essay Competition: 12th grader Gus Emm from Stephen Decatur High School - winner of the Grades 9-12 Division
• Financial Literacy Poster Competition: Seventh grader Marcella Alix from Snow Hill Middle School

Said Julie Weaver, MCEE Executive Director, “The winning students should be proud of this statewide honor. They have demonstrated their understanding of financial and economic concepts, as well as the importance for all students to learn about finances and how our economy works.”

The competitions are coordinated by the Maryland Council on Economic Education, the nearly 70 year-old nonprofit that assures that Maryland's school children leave high school equipped with the economic and financial literacy knowledge and decision-making skills they will need to make informed decisions as consumers, workers, citizens, savers, investors and participants in the global economy. In addition to student programs, MCEE offers free professional development and financial literacy education training and lesson plans for educators. Based on the campus of Towson University, MCEE supports more than 2,000 teachers each year who reach over 126,000 Maryland students. 

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MEDIA INFORMATION:

Garrett Berberich

Himmelrich PR

518-429-8661