Shaela Sturgeon, Abby Bryant, Reese Lincoln, Isaac Philips and Andrew Stokke accompanied Business Teacher Whitney Sullivan to the NH FinLit 300, a Financial Literacy competition hosted by the NH division of The Jump$tart Coalition.
Schools from across the state take an online assessment testing all areas of personal finance. Only the top 6 schools qualify for the in-person competition. This year marks Moultonborough’s 4th year qualifying.
The Moultonborough team started out slow, losing their first two competitions by narrow margins. After a short break – they came alive in the elimination round and defeated the #2 seed. Once they tasted victory, there was no stopping them. They carried that momentum into the semi-final round where they surprised the #1 seed, Winnacunnet, with their quick buzzers. Then it was on to the championship game against the defending champions, Merrimack. They had faced Merrimack in a nail-bitter earlier in the day and narrowly lost, but Moultonborough sought redemption, and they got it!
Each student was awarded $100 in cash for placing first and an extra $15 each for answering 3 “FinLit Frenzy” questions accurately. For coaching the winning team, Mrs.Sullivan won a trip to the National Jump$tart Educator’s Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.“It was really amazing to watch these students gain in confidence as the day went on. When we showed up they thought they didn’t have a chance against these much larger schools. They soon realized they knew the content, and they knew it well. After losing those first two rounds it would have been easy to feel defeated, but instead they checked the brackets, mapped out a possible route to victory, and made it happen. I’m so proud of the way they persevered and earned their place at the top.” -Mrs.Sullivan
