The Budget Challenge Blog

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.

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.