Team From Howard County Places In Top 4 At National Personal Finance Challenge

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — For the second year in a row, the Applications and Research Lab school team from Ellicott City was one of the top four finishers in America in the National Personal Finance Challenge, earning an all-expense-paid trip to New York City to compete with three other teams in the final round this summer. A team from the Applications and Research Lab last year scored first runner-up honors in the 2021 national finals.

Organized by the Council for Economic Education, the National Personal Finance Challenge encourages high school students to demonstrate mastery of earning, spending, saving, investing and managing credit and risk.

“Learning personal finance skills while still in high school sets young people on a path to success throughout their lives,” Nan J. Morrison, president and chief executive officer of CE, said. “Students from schools who have access to personal finance courses get a great head start on life.”

Application and Research Lab’s 2022 team includes Anuj Alamasety, Noah Hoffman, David Liu (Glenelg H.S.) and Nathaniel Sager, coached by teacher Maddy Halbach. They competed in the finals with teams from Ardrey Kell High School (Charlotte, North Carolina), Germantown High School (Madison, Mississippi) and Land O' Lakes High School (Florida).

Teams at the June 5 finals had only two hours to analyze a hypothetical family scenario and create a meaningful financial plan. Each member of the winning team will receive $2,000, with cash prizes of $1,000, $500 or $250 for each team member taking home second, third and fourth place national honors.