NGPF Fellow Updates
Teacher Feedback on our Credit Units -- Thanks, Maureen!
NGPF Fellow Maureen Neuner is consistently in touch with us here at NGPF, which we love love love! Her most recent feedback seemed worth sharing, as it might entice some of you to check out our credit units for use next year. Here’s Maureen’s email [with comments from Jessica in brackets]…
Happy Friday! I just wanted to give you some feedback on the credit unit I just completed. Every year I feel like I redo my lessons for credit because there is so much information out there...
Amanda and Laurie's Classrooms of the Future
In March, we blogged about a news article profiling NGPF Fellow Amanda Volz’s upcoming “Classroom of the Future” remodel at St. Clair High School in Michigan. If you’re a Facebook user, you can see beautiful pictures of her classroom (and her students in action)! And, now that we’ve announced our Summer Institute participants for 2017, we’re pleased to share classroom pictures from Laurie Gardner’s newly redone Classroom of the Future at Marine City High...
Careers of the Future! A Guest Post from Andrea Stemper
Andrea Stemper’s one of our NGPF Fellows who integrates personal finance into her economics classes (but not for long — she’s also advocating at her district to make personal finance its own elective course, which we’d LOVE to see happen). Adept at integrating financial capability into econ, Andrea’s written in with this suggestion for a lesson on job prospects and supply & demand:
When we think about our jobs, it is important to consider what might be in...
What does that cute, cuddly, adorable pet actually cost you?
Today, we’ve got a special treat — a guest blog post AND a teacher-generated resource — straight from NGPF Fellow Sue Suttich of Tigard High School (OR). Read on for a great activity on calculating the true cost of pet ownership!
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Each year in my Wealth Management class I have the students make a vision board. We talk about goals and what they want in life. Then they each write some short, medium and long-term goals and turn those goals into a...
NGPF Podcast: Tim Talks To NGPF Fellow Amy McCabe of Culpeper High School (Virginia)
NGPF Podcast: Tim Talks to Passionate and Creative Educator, Andrea Stemper of Palmer High School (CO)
Amanda Volz & Her (Soon-to-be) Classroom of the Future
NGPF Fellow Amanda Volz has made her local newspaper yet again, this time for the “Classroom of the Future” she’s designed and will have in place in less than two weeks at St. Clair High School in St. Clair, MI. Though Amanda is certainly an innovative educator across the board, this particular grant she received allowed her to design a new classroom layout, complete with flexible furniture and a “mini business setting.” The new classroom setup will perfectly...
Implementing "COMPARE: Making Credit Decisions" Amanda Volz-style
NGPF Fellow Amanda Volz took a fairly basic activity from our bank — COMPARE: Making Credit Decisions — and made it her own. Now, she’s sharing the strategy, guaranteed to liven up your classroom, with you. As an added bonus, the activity she’s referring to is now available in Spanish, too, so some of your English Language Learners can participate fully in this discussion-based fun. Read on for Amanda’s guest blog post…
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As a personal...
Teacher Submitted Question: What does being an "NGPF Fellow" entail?
Great question! If you’ve done any reading on our website, you may have noticed that last summer’s Inaugural Summer Institute participants became this academic year’s NGPF Fellows. Jill L from Wyoming wrote in to ask what exactly being an “NGPF Fellow” entails. The answer I gave Jill …
Everyone who attends Summer Institute automatically becomes an NGPF Fellow for the following school year as part of the Summer Institute commitment. In 2016-17, the program...
My Summer Institute Experience: A retrospective from NGPF Fellow Maureen Neuner
When you’re selected as an NGPF Summer Institute participant, you not only join us for 3 days in the summer but also commit to being an NGPF Fellow for the following school year. Fellows have a menu of actions they can complete to earn points, with the goal of earning 100 points by the end of the school year and receiving a stipend for their extra efforts. I can say, from our side, the Fellows have been instrumental this school year in shaping what NGPF does, so we love having them!
One...
Amanda Volz, NGPF Fellow, celebrates another big win in Budget Challenge
NGPF Fellow Amanda Volz has been teaching for 15 years and is now celebrating her students’ THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR of winning BIG ($20,000 big) in the H&R Block Budget Challenge. Amanda’s students not only benefit from her amazing, innovative teaching style but also from their school’s prioritizing financial literacy enough to offer a full year Financial Management course. Read more about Amanda, her school — St. Clair High School in St. Clair, MI — and...
Guest Blog from Sue Suttich: "401(k) = Cha Ching!"
When she was at Summer Institute 2016, NGPF Fellow Sue Suttich told us about the “Cha-Ching” policy she uses in her classroom. Now, as a follow-up, she’s providing all of you with this catchy strategy she implements throughout the year to help her students remember the most important personal finance concepts. Thanks for sharing, Sue!
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At the summer institute I shared my tip on getting my students to remember a concept. I give them a quick...
Charles Kafoglis, NGPF Fellow, explains his school's unique perspective on fin lit
Two in one week! A second NGPF Fellow, Charles Kafoglis, has submitted a guest blog spot, and we’re happy to have it. Charles is a teacher at an all-girls Catholic school in Houston, TX — Incarnate Word Academy — and they’ve got a really unique leadership model that weaves throughout their entire school culture and course curricula. Charles shares that outlook, as it pertains to the personal finance class he teaches, as well as two interesting videos, in the guest post...
Amy McCabe, NGPF Fellow, recommends 2 game platforms -- Kahoot and Quizizz
It’s a special occasion here on the NGPF blog — a guest piece by NGPF Fellow Amy McCabe! We know that hearing from us is one thing, but hearing from a fellow teacher, who’s in the classroom day in and day out, is a whole different ballgame! Amy’s an economics and personal finance educator at Culpepper County High School in VA, and sends along this review…
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My kids love to play games, and we are all big, big fans of...
Sue Suttich's Students Learn to Save
NGPF Fellow Sue Suttich let us know she’d just finished teaching a unit on savings, she’d utilized some of our NGPF resources, and her students had generated some creative work! Sue had her students (shout out, Tigard High School in Tigurd, OR — we see you!) create posters and catchy slogans to impress upon others the importance of savings. Sue, herself, is a big fan of slogans — she screen prints her own Financial Literacy-themed t-shirts, though that’s a whole...
Our 2016-17 NGPF Fellows
Amanda Volz
Amanda is a passionate advocate for personal finance and teaching students the skills and knowledge to be financially successful. During her 15 year teaching career she has taught a variety of business classes and currently teaches a year-long Financial Management course. She has earned degrees from Western Michigan University in Business Education and from Saginaw Valley State University in Secondary Education. Amanda’s students at St. Clair High School have won scholarships totalling over $260,000 in the past two years as top finishers in the H&R Block Budget Challenge simulation, including the top prize winner in the nation in 2015. She is a member of the Michigan Business Education Association and Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). She resides in St. Clair, Michigan with her husband and two children.
Amy McCabe
Amy has undergraduate degrees in communications and marketing, and Masters degrees in management and human resource development. She spent many years in the financial industry with companies including Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments. She also worked as a marketing director with a company that distributed CAD and CAM software to schools all across North America. Those experiences ultimately led her to become a business teacher, which is her true passion. Economics and personal finance are what she knows best and now she feels a great sense of responsibility (and privilege!) to teach these topics to her students in Culpeper, Virginia. When not with students, Amy can be found spending time with her family or flying small airplanes through the sky.
Andrea Stemper
Andrea spent 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry before finding her true passion teaching high school economics and personal finance. She believes in the power of paying yourself first and investing in ETFs. She hopes her students come back and thank her for guiding them to a productive life and a well funded retirement, although she will be hard to find by that time! She has taught in Aspen, Colorado and now teaches at Palmer High School in beautiful Colorado Springs. Andrea loves to ski, travel and listen to Planet Money and Tim's podcasts.
Charles Kafoglis
When you are raised by two economics professors, it's not surprising that you might end up loving to teach personal finance to young people. Of course a love of numbers - from degrees in mathematics from Colgate and Northwestern - might also be partially to blame! Charles worked in IT and Process consulting for most of his career and then moved to teaching a decade ago. He began as a math teacher and then developed a leadership curriculum and program at a high school in Houston, TX. Financial literacy is part of that program with the understanding that how each of us manages money tells a story about our values, our character and our ability to lead our lives. Charles resides in Houston with his wife, Pattie, faithful companion Ferris the Dog, and spends his time running, following his teams, and texting his 3 grown kids.
Cheryl Fleming
Cheryl has been teaching personal finance at Williamsburg Charter High School in Brooklyn, NY for 6 years, after having worked in retail for 20 years. She is the department leader for social studies, and her favorite personal finance book is ""The Millionaire Next Door.""
Jill Thompson
Jill believes that every person, no matter his or her age, should have a solid understanding of finances and the ability to budget their money. Helping students plan ahead and create reasonable goals for themselves isn't only her day job but her passion. Jill enjoys lightly roasted coffee, listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio, and long hikes in the Wyoming wilderness with her family.
Laura Falk
Laura has been teaching for 11 years, all in Ohio. She currently teaches at Fairbanks High School in Milford Center. Her Bachelor’s Degree is from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Family and Consumer Sciences Education. She teaches Financial Management, College and Career Readiness, Transitions and Careers, Principles of Food, Global Foods, and Child Development. Her personal favorite class to teach is Financial Management as she feels preparing teenagers for the real world is one of the most important things she can accomplish as an educator! Laura’s Master’s Degree is in School Administration from the University of Cincinnati. In her free time, she likes to hang out with her husband Dan and 3 kids (Emma, Thomas and Adelaide) and play sand volleyball.
Lynn Amey
Lynn Amey teaches at South Burlington High School in South Burlington, Vermont. Along with teaching Personal Finance, she also teaches Living On Your Own, Intro to Business, Entrepreneurship and Health & Human Development! This varied course load definitely reflects her diverse background. Supplementing her career in teaching, Lynn has also worked as an Innkeeper (Mick Jagger was a guest!), an Interior Decorator, a Fitness & Nutrition Instructor and a Human Resource Director. Lynn started a DECA chapter at SBHS 6 years ago and now has the largest chapter in the state with 100+ student and professional members. Lynn’s hobbies include gardening, dog training, kayaking, volunteering and spending quality time with family and friends. She’s putting her financial management techniques to a test as she prepares for her daughter’s upcoming wedding.
Maureen Neuner
Maureen is currently a Personal Finance teacher at Pinelands Regional Junior High School in Little Egg Harbor, NJ. After graduating from Montclair University with a degree in accounting, she went on to work for Morgan Guarantee in NYC. Once her daughters were born, she decided to stay home for some years and enjoy family time. As the girls were going through school, Maureen realized there was never any discussion in class about saving, planning for the future, or budgeting and thought that needed to change. So she went back to school, received her Business Education certificate, and currently loves teaching students and their parents about the impact of their financial decisions. She spends many hours looking for fun activities and lessons for her students and believes that NGPF is the most comprehensive, relevant, and up to date information out there!
Michael Faught
Having spent 35+ years in investment banking, investment management and technology start-ups, Michael went on to teach economics, personal finance, business planning and business management to 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders. Michael served as chair to the relatively new Business & Finance Academy program at an inner-city Los Angeles charter high school, View Park High School (VPHS) in south central LA. Michael holds an AB in economics from Harvard, where he was a two-time All-America and All-Ivy lacrosse player, and an MBA in finance from Wharton. To supplement the challenges of creating and simultaneously teaching a four-year business and finance sequence, Michael launched a lacrosse program at VPHS.
Sue Suttich
Sue Suttich teaches in the Business Department at Tigard High School in Tigard, Oregon. She has been an educator for 22 years and currently teaches Sports Marketing, Personal Finance and Wealth Management. Sue believes financial education is the most important concept we can share with our youth. Empowering them to be responsible with their finances will help this generation prosper. Financial education is powerful! Sue is also the 12u director for Oregon Juniors Volleyball Academy where she enjoys sharing her love for the game of volleyball with young girls as she focuses on teamwork, hard work, competition, and confidence. She enjoys traveling, baking, walking, reading and playing tennis too.
Tony Montgomery
Tony has been teaching personal finance, as well as serving as an advisor, for over 15 years at City As School High School in New York City. City As School is a transfer school serving students age 17-22 who have encountered obstacles to success in more traditional educational settings, ranging from disaffection to bullying to homelessness to family responsibilities. He loves teaching personal finance and is a ""guru at using Gooru."" His favorite personal finance book is ""The Rookie's Guide to Money Management"" by Ray Martin.
