The Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics at Allegheny College hosted its inaugural Financial Literacy Challenge on Saturday, Dec. 7, with 16 teams of Allegheny students presenting personal financial budgets and investing plans. The winning teams, which together will receive $5,000 in prizes and trophies, were:
First Place (three-way tie)
• Pass/Go, Collect 200 Dollars (Sharlyne Cabral, Nicolas Marrero, Rachael Hensel and Hailey Shull)
• Just Throw it in the Bag (Daniella Clarke)
• JLZ-Fund (Jerfenson Cerda Mejia, Liam Wilby and Zachary Zoll)
Second Place (tie)
• Risky Business (Samantha Medaglia, Jacob Simmons, Bree Garcia and Ariana Villavicencio)
• The Smart Savers (Kayla McCandless, Rebecca Montgomery and Kamryn Randall)
Third Place (tie)
• Forward Thinking (Adam Cook and Devin Ho)
• Sustainable Development Goals (Maura McCampbell)
The 2019 Financial Literacy Challenge judges, from left: Donald Belt, Janine Sickafuse, Toni Frisina, Devone McLeod, Susan Wycoff and Sean Ward.
The students shared their plans with a panel of six judges, each with extensive experience in the financial industry. The judges evaluated the plans according to the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA®) criteria for excellence in financial planning and provided feedback to students on how they could refine and improve their plans. The judges for this year’s competition were:
- Donald M. Belt, a 1993 Allegheny graduate and president at Hefren-Tillotson, Inc.
- Toni Frisina, senior vice president and regional manager at Northwest Advisors (Northwest Bank)
- Devone McLeod, a 2013 Allegheny graduate and certified financial planner at Reby Advisors
- Janine Sickafuse, retired Allegheny accounting/economics professor
- Sean Ward, a 1989 Allegheny graduate and partner at Blue Point Capital Partners, a global private equity firm
- Susan Wycoff, a 1974 Allegheny graduate and retired vice president and relationship strategist at PNC Wealth Management
The prizes for the Financial Literacy Challenge were provided through a gift from an anonymous longtime supporter of the Center for Business and Economics.
For more information about the Financial Literacy Challenge, visit the Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics website.
Pictured Above
First-place winners of the inaugural Financial Literacy Challenge, from left: Nicolas Marrero, Sharlyne Cabral, Hailey Shull, Daniella Clarke, Liam Wilby and Jerfenson Cerda Mejia. Not pictured: Rachael Hensel and Zachary Zoll.
