Montezuma students advance in Iowa Personal Finance Challenge

       Pictured are members of the Montezuma High School Personal Finance Challenge team. They are, from left: Bryson Stockman, Ellen Cook, Harlea Pargeon, Taylor Wilcox, Kylee Larmore, Shiressa Wetering and Elizabeth De Jong. Karlee Knust was also part of the team, but is not pictured due to her gradating at the end of the fall semester.

        Montezuma High School students took part in the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge once again this year, as a part of the National Personal Finance Challenge sponsored by the Council for Economic Education and the National Jump$tart Coalition. 
     On the high school level, two Montezuma High School teams claimed both Southeast Iowa region spots to advance to the state finals. Both teams were led by senior students and consisted of Bryson Stockman, Ellen Cook, Taylor Wilcox, and Elizabeth De Jong (Team 1) as well as Harlea Pargeon, Kylee Larmore, Shiressa Wetering, and Karlee Knust (Team 2). Montezuma High School students take a personal finance class in order to graduate from school, with two different levels of personal finance content available.
      The high school teams advance to the state finals with the other six regional qualifiers in the state from the fall, as well as the eight teams yet to qualify this spring. The competition will take place on Wednesday, April 16, at the Economic Development Core Facility in Ames. The state competition is a case study format, with students having one hour to create a financial plan for a family before presenting to a panel of financial experts. The top performing team in the state of Iowa will advance to Atlanta to compete against other state champions later in the year.
     Montezuma Junior High also had a team of eighth graders compete in the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge and they brought home first place in the statewide testing competition. The team, made up of Luke Benson, Hunter Westphal, Alanna Hutchinson, and Tinsley Stowell, was able to successfully outperform other junior high teams in the state with their knowledge of personal finance concepts. Eighth grade students at Montezuma take a stand-alone Personal Finance class as a part of their class load. 
     There are no additional stages for the junior high to compete in beyond the initial testing competition.

​        Pictured are members of the Montezuma Junior High School Personal Finance team. They are, from left: Luke Benson, Hunter Westphal, Alanna Hutchinson and Tinsley Stowell.