Several Upper Peninsula teams participated at the regional level of the National Personal Finance Challenge, with support from the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at Northern Michigan University. Three of those U.P. teams have advanced to the Michigan state finals on Monday, April 25, at the Federal Reserve Bank- Detroit Branch. The Michigan finalists will vie for an opportunity to compete at nationals in Kansas City.

Gladstone High School’s team, coached by Erika Fix, was crowned U.P. champions and received a scholarship from the CEEE to help defray travel expenses to the state finals. The two remaining teams headed to Detroit are both from Westwood High School, coached by Ronalyn Arseneau.

The National Personal Finance Challenge is recognized as the nation’s most prestigious high school personal finance competition. The Challenge is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge of personal finance by competing with others. 

April has been named Financial Literacy Month and the week of April 25 is designated Money Smart Week. The purpose is to call attention on the need to educate young people on developing sensible personal finance practices. This competition has provided the CEEE at NMU with an opportunity to increase its efforts on improving the financial literacy of students across the Upper Peninsula.