Six students from St Edmunds College and St Francis Xavier College have topped the ACT’s charts in a national financial literacy competition.
The Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge invites Australian secondary students to take part in the ESSI (Earning, Saving, Spending and Investing) Money game – simulating real life transactions to promote an understanding of financial decisions.
St Edmund’s College’s Dylan Bathgate, Cody Bryce, and William Bate took out the Territory’s top three places in the 12 to 15-year-old category.
Dominic Calderazzo and Mitchell McNamara from St Francis Xavier College claimed first and third place in the 16 to 18-year-old category while Hunter Harlour from St Edmund’s College came second.
The Challenge runs for two weeks, usually during Term 2, and saw more than 7,950 Australian secondary students take part this year.
The ESSI Money Challenge is run by non-for-profit Financial Basics Foundation, launched in 2002 to work with educators and students on financial literacy.
Financial Basics Foundation Chair Brigid Leishman congratulated all participants involved in the Challenge, hoping they took away lifelong financial skills to put into practice.
“Like many, Australians teenagers have been struggling financially during COVID-19,” Ms Leishman said.
“That makes it more important to teach young people how to make smart financial choices now, and into the future.”
In the Challenge, students are divided into two age categories, 12-15 and 16-18 and those with the three highest scores are the winners in each category.
Educators must be a member of the Financial Basics Foundation in order to register their class for the event.
Students are required to complete a financial literacy quiz at the end of the Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge.
For more information, or to access the ESSI Money Game visit www.financialbasics.org.au.
