The following post is one in a series of inspiring stories from NGPF's Gold Standard Challenge Grant Program which incentivizes high schools and districts to commit to ALL students taking personal finance courses before graduation. Learn more, and apply for your $2,500 to $30,000 Gold Standard Challenge Grant before the August 31, 2022 deadline here.

About Today's Guest Author

Shawn Hulin is an educator at Centreville Jr/Sr High School in Centreville, Michigan. Their school is the 51st recipient of the Gold Standard Challenge grant. Here is Shawn describing Centreville Jr/Sr’s journey to the Gold Standard.

Describe a rough timeline for how you and/or your colleagues were able to advocate for personal finance to become a graduation requirement in your school/district. How long did it take? What were the major progress milestones?

In the 2019-2020 school year, I ran the idea past my superintendent and math department. They thought this was a good idea and was brought to the Curriculum Council meeting. They approved the requirement but started with Sophomores. The idea was then brought to the school board this past June and was put into the curriculum.

What challenges did you encounter in your efforts to make personal finance a graduation requirement, and what solutions did you find for these challenges?

Thankfully, I did not encounter any challenges with the proposal. Everyone thought this was a great idea to have all students take this course. The administration and math department were very helpful partners in this quest.

What/who were the "catalysts for change" that allowed your efforts to be successful?

I was the catalyst for this change. I made sure that this was going to happen and I wasn’t going to stop until it was implemented into our school. I’m so grateful that everyone was on board with adding a personal financial requirement. This is going to be so important for our students' futures.

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