The Budget Challenge Blog

Credit unions have a mission to serve their community's financial needs. Schools have a mission to create financially capable young adults. As First Area Credit Union begins its fourth year of Budget Challenge sponsorship, COO Lynn McCoy and Swan Valley Michigan High School teacher David Dawson share how they are transforming lives through their joint efforts. Read about it in this week's blog post.

In this “Under the Hood” post, we will look at the trophies and the design thinking behind them. Before Budget Challenge had trophies, we sometimes received feedback indicating that students and teachers were uncertain about what to focus on or prioritize. While this might be a common sentiment in the adult world of personal finance, it was a clear sign that there was an opportunity to improve the simulation. The question was how best to focus on the essential personal finance behaviors in the simulation. As it sometimes is in life, one needs to zoom out first to improve focus.

Tony Wright who is a Career and Technical Education teacher at Warren Mott High School in Warren, MI shared his vast Budget Challenge experience with us.

2022-2023 Budget Challenge is better than ever! We have updated our award-winning simulation and textbook and added new teaching tools and resources. Budget Challenge is the only program that teaches all 127 of the CEE/Jump$tart National Standards for Personal Financial Education. Our program is the most realistic and relevant available. And it is the only one that instills financial capability by letting students manage all the finances of an independent young adult in real-time for ten weeks while they attempt to accomplish important financial goals most adults struggle with.

Anne Runkle an Economics teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, in Charlotte, NC, is an avid Budget Challenge user. She has been using the program since 2014. In that time our program has improved and changed. However, the importance and relevancy of parent engagement during the simulation and the bridge between home and school that Budget Challenge creates has remained the same. Anne shares her experience and the importance of parent involvement.

Robin Salai, a Business teacher at Fairmont Senior High School in WV, who has been using Budget Challenge for several years, shares her vast experience with us. She started teaching the class with 22 students and since then her class size has almost tripled. Salai was even featured in the Times West Virginian last year for using our program in her Personal Finance course.

Jacob Granstaff is an AP Macroeconomics/Government teacher at Boerne High School in Texas. He shared his most memorable Budget Challenge experience, which occurred at a recent graduation.

Trevor Medenwaldt, with Achieva Credit Union, is a Certified Financial Counselor (CFC), IRA Specialist (CIS II), HSA Specialist (CHSP) and Branch Manager of Del Prado & Camelot Isles shares his insight on what it means to be the proud sponsor of Lee County Schools in Fort Myers, Florida.

Bill Nelson, a CTE Career Readiness Teacher and Consultant at the Van Buren Tech School located in Lawrence, MI shared with us the value Budget Challenge adds to his students' lives.

Jeanne White shared her unique experience of teaching overseas at Kubasaki High School which is on Camp Foster a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa, a DODEA high school.