Howard County Student Team Wins National Finance Challenge

Four students from the Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL) – Howard County’s business and technology-focused high school – beat out nearly 4,000 student teams from across the country to win the National Personal Finance Challenge in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Challenge pits student teams from schools around the country in a competition to demonstrate the financial skills they have mastered while participating in their school’s Millionaire’s Club.

The ARL student team – led by faculty adviser Dr. Maddy Halbach and including students Austin Adamczyk, Brooke Rankin, Johnathan Taylor, and Matthew Poltorak – competed first in Maryland then nationally, outperforming 3,979 teams in a qualifying round before progressing to claim victory over 23 teams in the finals.

“We’re very proud to be associated with the ARL team, whose members have clearly demonstrated that in 2016, they are the best of the best” says Carmen David Mirabile, Assistant Vice President of Marketing at SECU, Maryland’s largest credit union and sponsor of the ARL Millionaire's Club. As sponsor, SECU serves as the club’s primary financial institution and helps with mentoring and club support.

Mirabile continues, “Students participating in the Millionaire’s Clubs competitions and entrepreneurial activities receive an incredibly meaningful learning experience that will provide lifelong personal finance skills.”

“Students who participate in the Millionaire’s Club receive a definite advantage, both in these structured competitions and throughout their lives,” adds Kyle Swisher, Executive Director of the Credit Union Foundation MD|DC, creator of the Millionaire’s Club.

The National Personal Finance Challenge was hosted by the Missouri Council on Economic Education at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City.

A month before their win in the finals, the ARL team beat 28 teams from across Maryland to take the state title in a competition run by the Maryland Council on Economic Education. The Millionaire’s Club team from Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City placed second in the Maryland competition.

For more information on the Millionaire's Club financial freedom experience, visit www.cufound.org/millionaire or www.secumd.org

ABOUT SECU

Founded in Baltimore in 1951, SECU is Maryland’s largest credit union. SECU is ranked among the top 50 credit unions for total assets in the U.S, which total $3.0 billion, as of March, 2016. Headquartered in Linthicum, MD, SECU has 23 branches and 100+ ATMs throughout Maryland. SECU also provides access to thousands of free ATMs through the CO-OP and

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