2007 Topic Competition Report For Canada

ACE/SIFE Canada hosted a second year of the Financial Education Challenge. Special financial literacy training materials were created and used at nine training seminars for SIFE teams. Three Regional Competitions were hosted with 31 SIFE Canada teams giving 10-minute presentations and annual reports to a panel of judges. Two teams were selected at each regional to compete in a National Financial Education Challenge Competition with those six finalists competing for national titles with trophies and cash prizes at the ACE/SIFE Canada National Exposition. Two national awards were given.

National First Place

Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada

The SIFE Team at Memorial operates financial literacy programs focused on a number of community groups. The team operates a Youth in Business program that teaches business skills to students, at-risk youth and future teachers; Business Education Growing in Newfoundland and Labrador (BEGIN) that has seen the team improve the province’s high school Enterprise curriculum; and Think Green, a program that shows students at the elementary school level how to create and operate a successful recycling business. These programs have successfully taught financial literacy skills to over 2200 students.

National Second Place

Mount Royal College, Alberta, Canada

Although Calgary is one of Canada’s most affluent cities, the booming economy and increasing cost of living is creating huge social problems. The SIFE Team at Mount Royal College has created a program, the PHAT Wallet program (standing for Personal Hope and Triumph) that teaches necessary financial management skills to a variety of audiences. They focus on five key financial management concepts; goal setting, budgeting, credit cards, debt verses equity, and compound interest. To date they have focused the program on 50 semi-pro athletes between the ages of 15 and 30 and a group of 15 troubled or at-risk youth.

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