Each year, NGPF Fellows have the option to award a Personal Finance Student of the Year Award' to a student who has demonstrated outstanding contributions in their personal finance class during the school year. We'll showcase new winners on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday here on the blog throughout the coming summer weeks. 

Students are selected based on the following criteria:

• Student has taken a personal finance class in the 2019-2020 school year that was taught by the NGPF Fellow who nominated them
• Student demonstrated outstanding performance in the class based on participation/academic excellence/passion for the subject matter

Congratulations this Friday go to:

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Student: Samuel Sloop

Teacher: Julius Prezelski

School: Mt. St. Joseph High School (Baltimore, MD)

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“A personal finance class is the most important class offered at a high school because it prepares you for real life situations and it allows students to develop financial literacy which is essential for life. My personal finance class has allowed me to ask new questions to my parents, start investing, and begin to take steps that will allow my future self to be financially secure. The three lessons that I have found important from my personal finance class are: How to use credit to your advantage; How to correctly file your taxes; Understanding the difference between assets and liabilities. Learning to use credit correctly can allow people to develop better credit scores which leads to lower interest rates. I have used this lesson in my life by beginning to take the steps to get a secure credit card which will allow me to build credit from a younger age. The next valuable lesson is understanding how to file your taxes correctly. I have learned how to file a W-4 and a 1040 form. Because of this lesson, I was able to use resources like turbo tax to receive a refund for taxes I paid over the summer. The last lesson and the most important of the three is understanding the difference between an asset and a liability. An asset puts money into your pocket whereas a liability takes money out of your pocket. I have taken the initiative to build my assets by investing in stock with all of my work money.”

-Samuel Sloop

About the Author

Yanely Espinal

Born and raised by Dominican, immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 2007 before going on to receive her bachelor's degree at Brown University in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, Yanely taught third and fourth grade in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She received her master's degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. She spends her spare time making YouTube videos about personal finance on her channel, MissBeHelpful. Yanely also loves to dance, sew, paint, listen to podcasts, and babysit her 10 nieces and nephews!