Three DeWitt County Teens Win Money Smart Week Essay Contest
April 29, 2020
Clinton, IL - The DeWitt County Money Smart Week committee has chosen the winners of the 2020 Money Smart Week Essay Contest. High school students living in DeWitt County or attending Clinton, DeLand Weldon or Blue Ridge High Schools were eligible to enter the contest. This year’s winners were Justyn West, 1st place, Peyton Moore, 2nd place and Phoenix Bieber, 3rd place. All three are students at Clinton High School.
This year’s essay prompt was, “If an investor gave you $25,000 to solve an economic issue in your community, what would you create to help solve the problem?” First National Bank & Trust of Clinton, IL coordinated the essay contest. The winning essays are available to view on First National’s website at https://www.firstnbtc.com/about-us/financial-literacy.html.
The Money Smart Teen Essay Contest is part of a national program sponsored by the Chicago Federal Reserve to provide free financial education to all through collaborations with local financial professionals. The goal is to produce communities of well-informed residents that can help support a healthy economy.
The DeWitt County Money Smart Week committee members include: Connie Unruh, Chairperson, TS Institute; Matt Riley, TS Prosperity; Kim O’Donohue, Edward Jones; Rochelle Moore, Save Moore Tax & Accounting; Keith Wade, Country Financial; and Jessica Devore, Green Acres Real Estate.
“This year’s official Money Smart Week Campaign scheduled for April 4-11 was cancelled due to COVID-19, but we decided to continue with the essay contest since students were already submitting entries before the stay-at-home order was in place,” said Chairperson, Connie Unruh. “We are glad we kept the contest going because we received the most entries this year, to date, and we thought it would be something positive in the news during this time.”
Unruh is the Financial Literacy Coordinator at First National Bank and Trust that provides financial literacy training to students and adults. Unruh also added, “We are going through unprecedented times in which people need to put into practice their financial literacy skills, choosing needs over wants.”
To learn more about Money Smart Week, visit https://www.moneysmartweek.org/about.
About First National Bank and Trust Co: First National Bank & Trust Company is a community bank located in Clinton, Illinois. Dedicated to community prosperity, the bank was chartered in 1872 under the name DeWitt County National Bank. The name was changed First National Bank and Trust Company in 1974, and was acquired by TS Banking Group in 2017. With $186 million in assets, First National Bank is dedicated to community reinvestment and gives 10% of its net income back to the community. For more information visit firstnbtc.com.