NGPF Announces 2018 National Winners in Inaugural PAYBACK Challenge

News provided by

May 03, 2018, 07:05 ET

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is pleased to announce the 10 National Winners in their inaugural PAYBACK Challenge. Over 60,000 students played PAYBACK during the contest period and teachers nominated over 500 essays from students in all fifty states.

After playing the award-winning game, PAYBACK, students wrote a 250 word essay with the following prompt:

"How could you use the online game, PAYBACK, to have a conversation with your parent/guardian about paying for college?"

Each of the 10 National Winners listed below will receive a $5,000 award from NGPF to be used for educational purposes:

Haley Bechard, Bellows Free Academy (St Albans, VT)
Jason Deerfield, Model High School (Richmond, KY)
Skyler Herman, Montville Township High School (Montville, NJ)
Jennifer Hollfelder, Needham High School (Needham, MA)
Tyler Kert, Cashmere High School (Cashmere, WA)
Clare Kohl, Shelby-Rising City Public Schools (Shelby, NE)
Aleksandr Kralovec, West De Pere Middle School (De Pere, WI)
Loren Negron, Waitsburg High School (Waitsburg, WA)
Kim Ngo, Wilcox High School (Santa Clara, CA)
Ally Nyquist, Stayton High School (Stayton, OR)

"Reading through hundreds of essays demonstrated how PAYBACK spurred so many thoughtful conversations between students and their parents/guardians," noted NGPF Founder, Tim Ranzetta.

Here are brief excerpts from several of the winning essays:

"College is a game. Year after year, countless students and parents pay to play only to be beat by the system. They've trained long and hard, but only for Level 1: Getting In."
- Kim Ngo, Wilcox High School (Santa Clara, CA)

"...it's given me the ability to go into the conversation [about college] knowing it's hard to save money for my college education with four kids, instead of going into it without confidence and accusing them of not caring."
- Ally Nyquist, Stayton High School (Stayton, OR)

"After playing this game twice and escaping with a salary twice the size of my student debt, I asked my mother to play. She dropped out during sophomore year! After I finished laughing, she expressed how impressed she was with my mature decisions that I anticipate I will also make while in college."
- Jennifer Hollfelder, Needham High School (Needham, MA)

"Remember the awkwardness of your parents talking about the birds and the bees? Well, when it comes time to talk about college, it's your turn to start the awkward dialogue."
- Skyler Herman, Montville Township High School (Montville, NJ)

NGPF announced last week the 150 Honorable Mention award winners who will each receive $500 towards their educational pursuits. PAYBACK recently received a Webby Award for best Social Impact game and is a free game available at www.timeforpayback.com.

About Next Gen Personal Finance
Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), has become the "one-stop shop" for financial educators looking for high-quality, engaging curriculum to equip students with skills to thrive in their future. In just three years, NGPF's comprehensive online curricular resources and teacher training have already been used by over 10,000 teachers in all fifty states. They love NGPF's approach that can be summarized as the 4 Cs: Curated, Comprehensive, Customizable and Current (and it's FREE too!).

Media Contact
Tim Ranzetta
Next Gen Personal Finance
650-218-8408
[email protected]

SOURCE Next Gen Personal Finance