Jan 28, 2022

NGPF Podcast: NGPF Payback Challenge National Winners Caleigh Hurley and Dhruv Bansal

Each fall, the NGPF Payback Challenge provides students across the country with the opportunity to earn $70,000 in college scholarships. This week, you will hear from our two National Winners, Caleigh Hurley of Brighton High School (MI) and Dhruv Bansal of De Pere High School (WI) who took creative approaches with their submissions. They will share what they learned from the NGPF Arcade game, PAYBACK, and how it has influenced their college plans in the future. 

Details:

  • 0:00~1:34 Introduction

  • 1:34~11:42 Caleigh Hurley of Brighton High School (Brighton, MI)

    • 1:34~3:08 Caleigh’s background

    • 3:08~4:10 Experience applying to college

    • 4:10~5:31 Taking a personal finance class

    • 5:31~5:54 What’s important when it comes to investing?

    • 5:54~8:03 Playing Payback

    • 8:03~11:42 Writing a poem for the Payback Challenge

  • 11:42~12:27 A word from NGPF

  • 12:27~21:57 Dhruv Bansal of De Pere High School (De Pere, WI)

    • 12:27~13:12 Druv’s background 

    • 13:12~14:19 Deciding to take a personal finance college

    • 14:19~15:37 Favorite personal finance lessons

    • 15:37~16:46 Having a part-time job

    • 16:46~19:08 Playing Payback

    • 19:08~20:59 Making a video for the Payback Challenge

    • 20:59~21:57 Future plans of applying to college

  • 21:57~ 23:03 Conclusion

Resources:

Quotes:

  • “As the game puts it you’re not going to be able to go through the game, but in life, you won’t make it through your schooling if you don’t keep a good balance.” -Caleigh  
  • “The game basically reinforces the idea that it's these small day-to-day decisions you make that really add up." -Dhruv
 

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.

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