Calvert students take financial challenge 141 score in top fifth -- South Maryland Newspapers

By JEFF NEWMAN

Students in Calvert County participated in the National Financial Capability Challenge and 141 of them placed in the top 20 percent.

All high school curricula include subjects designed to prime students for college, such as English, mathematics, history and science. Not as many require courses prepping pupils for an adulthood reality — personal finance.

But last month more than 1,000 Calvert County high school students took the online National Financial Capability Challenge, a 40-question test covering everything from credit cards and cell phone plans to home loans and property taxes.

Students who placed in the top 20 percent nationally, including 141 in Calvert, will each receive an award certificate. To finish in the top fifth, a student had to answer 35, or 88 percent, of the questions correctly. More than 76,000 students took the test nationwide.

Most of the top-scoring students are enrolled in business classes or the Academy of Finance, a national program offered at all four county high schools that covers banking, credit, financial planning, international finance, securities, insurance, accounting and economics, according to its website.

"It's a great opportunity for students to learn a lot [about personal finance] while they're still in high school," said Maureen Klem, a business teacher and the Academy of Finance director at Calvert High School.

Patuxent High School senior Clint Auman and Huntingtown High School senior Kyle Hutzler were the only county students to record perfect scores. Hutzler took the Spanish version of the test, said Lynne Gillis, a business teacher at Huntingtown.

Auman, also an Academy of Finance student, plans to begin his undergraduate education at the College of Southern Maryland and has his sights set on becoming a loan officer.

"It's kind of like a desk job. You have an office, but you get to go around and talk to people directly," he said. "It seems like a lot more fun than sitting at a desk all day."

Senior Taylor Gross and junior Jason Hyder both scored a 98 percent, tied for tops at Northern High School. Noah Baker, Greg Hall, Madison Ridel and Kyle Runion all tied for the top score at Calvert High School with scores of 98.

At a time when the nation is reeling from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, boosting financial literacy has become a national priority.

In January 2008, then-President George W. Bush created the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. President Barack Obama has kept the council intact, and its initiatives include the challenge.

As studies have shown an increasing number of college students struggling with finances, particularly credit card debt and paying off school loans, high school business classes have become more common and popular.

"I wish everyone had the chance to take a business math class or financial literacy class because I think the U.S. as a whole would be better off," said Patuxent senior Andrew Delwiche, who scored a 90 percent on the challenge. Delwiche plans to major in game and simulation programming at DeVry University before beginning a career as a video game programmer.

Patuxent senior Sharon Parran said the best part of her business math class was "learning how to have financial stability, because people have a lot of trouble with credit cards. Learn what to do, what not to do."

Auman said everyone should graduate high school with a good grasp on how to manage their finances.

"If they don't, it will affect them in the long run," he said. "In one of my classes, we're learning how to maintain your credit, and to me that's something that's really important."