Budget Challenge is proud to launch a new award program dedicated to celebrating the exceptional educators who make financial literacy come alive in classrooms across the country. This year marks the introduction of our most prestigious honor, the Teacher of the Year Award, created to recognize an educator who not only reaches a high volume of students, but also inspires an extraordinary level of engagement and real-world learning.
We are thrilled to announce that the first-ever recipient of this award and a $1,000 cash prize is Joe Schoenfeld, a personal finance teacher at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Why Joe Schoenfeld Was Selected
The Teacher of the Year Award is built on one central idea: student engagement matters most. We analyze teacher performance nationwide by looking at both the total number of engaged students and the overall percentage of engagement achieved in the classroom.
Joe Schoenfeld is a level 12 teacher with 1,287 engaged students. This easily ranks in the top five nationally for lifetime engaged students. Even more remarkable, Joe achieved an exceptional 86.32 percent engaged student rate, making him the clear top performer across thousands of educators.
These numbers reflect not just participation, but true involvement. They represent students who log in consistently, take action, compete, ask questions, and apply financial principles in meaningful ways. Joe’s classroom proves that engagement at scale is not only possible, but powerful.
Joe Schoenfeld’s Keys to Success: Coaching Mindset, Structure, and Real-World Accountability
Joe Schoenfeld is not only a personal finance teacher at Elder High School. He is also the varsity basketball coach. And that influence is easy to see the moment you step into his classroom.
Coaches know how to motivate. They hold students accountable. They push them to practice consistently, recover from mistakes, and keep showing up when things get difficult. Joe brings that same energy, structure, and encouragement into his Budget Challenge classroom, and it is one of the biggest reasons his students stay so highly engaged.
At the front of the room sits a classroom calendar that reinforces that coaching mindset. Paydays, as well as trophy and 401(k) deadlines are marked. Important simulation dates are visible to every student, every day. Just like a game schedule or a practice plan, students always know what is coming next and what they need to prepare for.
Joe believes success is built through consistency, not luck. He tells students from the start that Budget Challenge will be new and sometimes confusing, and that he struggled the first time he played too. That honesty lowers anxiety and builds trust. Students know questions are welcome, mistakes are part of learning, and improvement is always possible.
Just like on the court, Joe focuses on quick adjustments. He reminds students that in class and in life, the best approach is to identify problems quickly and fix them. Rather than simply giving answers, he asks guiding questions so students learn how to solve issues on their own. That balance of support and accountability builds confidence fast.
Student grades are based on engagement, trophies earned, quiz performance, and overall score. Daily effort matters. Students quickly see that strong habits lead to strong results, all within a safe environment where they can learn from mistakes without real-world consequences.
Motivation also stays high through competition and teamwork. With support from a local bank, top students earn gift cards and the highest-performing class earns a donut day. The prizes add excitement, but the deeper impact is the culture. Students push one another to stay engaged because the entire class is competing together. No one wants to let the team down.
Nearly every class begins with students checking their dashboard alerts and actions needed. That daily routine mirrors real adult financial life. Bills do not wait. Deadlines do not pause. By building that habit now, Joe helps students develop awareness, discipline, and responsibility that will stay with them long after graduation.
Joe connects nearly every lesson back to real Budget Challenge decisions. Whether discussing credit scores, loan approval, or debt-to-income ratios, students use their own numbers from the simulation. The learning becomes real because they are living it.
Joe often says the beauty of Budget Challenge is that it feels real without risking real money. Students experience responsibility, pressure, recovery, and success in a safe environment. And much like in sports, they learn that effort, preparation, and persistence determine the outcome.
Leadership Support from Elder High School
Elder High School Principal Kurt Ruffing sees firsthand how this approach transforms students:
“At Elder, we believe it is not enough for students simply to learn financial terms. They must actually practice managing money. Budget Challenge gives our Financial Literacy students the chance to live as independent adults for ten weeks. They are paying bills, balancing a budget, building savings, and even thinking about credit and investing. That kind of real-world simulation builds financial confidence and responsibility long before graduation.”
Student Voices: Learning That Lasts
The real impact of Joe Schoenfeld’s classroom is best reflected in the voices of his students.
One current student shared how Budget Challenge transformed the way they think about managing money:
“I liked the Budget Challenge because it showed me how to pay bills, save money, and prepare for emergencies. The trophies pushed me to make better financial decisions, and I really saw the payoff by the end of the game. Now I actually understand how to budget and plan for the future.”
Another student emphasized how the simulation helped build long-term financial awareness:
“The Budget Challenge taught me how to build an emergency fund and understand the importance of a 401(k). I learned real skills that I know will help me make better financial decisions later in life.”
The impact of those lessons continues well beyond graduation. One former student shared:
“The Budget Challenge has definitely helped me stay on top of my real bills like rent, utilities, and insurance. It also prepared me for unexpected situations, and I feel much more confident handling life as it comes.”
A Standard of Excellence for the Nation
Joe Schoenfeld’s classroom represents the highest standard of what financial education can be. Through consistent structure, real-world application, and genuine care for student success, he has reached more than a thousand students and changed the way they approach money, responsibility, and long-term planning.
Congratulations, Joe!
We proudly congratulate Joe Schoenfeld as the 2024–25 Budget Challenge Teacher of the Year. His extraordinary student engagement, innovative classroom leadership, and lasting impact on financial confidence make him a truly deserving recipient of our highest honor.
This award marks the beginning of many stories we look forward to sharing as we continue to spotlight the educators across the country who bring financial education to life and prepare students for a stronger financial future.
