SMITHFIELD HIGH SCHOOL TO REPRESENT OCEAN STATE IN RESERVE CUP CHALLENGE

State Finals Down to the Wire in Boston Fed’s Financial Literacy Competition

11/12/09 – The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is proud to announce that a team of four students from Smithfield High School has earned the right to represent Rhode Island in the championship round of the Reserve Cup Challenge to take place at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009.

Smithfield will compete with state champions from five other New England states for the “Reserve Cup,” the prize for this educational program of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that rewards students for their knowledge of personal finance and economics. The program website is: www.reservecup.org.

A reception to honor the Smithfield students will be held:

Tuesday, November 17th | 5:30 – 6:30
Smithfield Town Hall – Council Chambers
64 Farnum Pike
Smithfield, RI 02917

Erica Valentine, a personal finance teacher and coach of the of the Smithfield High School team said, “I am so proud of our team and I’m grateful for opportunities like this to showcase our students’ dedication to becoming financially literate young adults.”

Stephen Rocco, academy of finance director at Smithfield High School, added, “This victory is yet another example that our academy concept works.”More information about the academy can be found at: http://shsaof.org

The team from Smithfield High School is comprised of students:

Brent Barrows, Michaela Fournier, Andrew Langellier, Alyssa Towne

In a highly competitive second Rhode Island round that was webcast out of Boston to participating Rhode Island high schools last Friday, November 6th, Smithfield scored perfectly with ten correct answers.Inches behind, teams from Barrington, Chariho, Tolman, and Lincoln tied for second place with nine correct answers.Other high schools participating in the two-round state-level competition included Central, Cranston West, The Lincoln School and North Providence.

The Smithfield team answered 19 out of 20 questions correctly during the first two rounds of state competition.The only other team in New England to achieve a near-perfect score was Belmont High School in Massachusetts.

Jim Hedemark, the RI Jump$tart Coalition’s executive director boasts of the strong Rhode Island showing, “Congratulations to Smithfield!They are the best of our best.In the spirit of friendly competition, after reviewing Rhode Island team scores against other states, we could send any one of our teams to Boston with a tremendous amount of pride.”

The RI Jump$tart Coalition has coordinated the Ocean State’s participation in the program since its inception in 2006.In 2007, North Providence High School brought the “Reserve Cup” home to Rhode Island.2009 is the first year that the program required state-level “playoffs” and Rhode Island fielded more schools than any other state with nine out of a possible ten teams (losing one to the flu).

Describing the purpose of the program, Scott Guild of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston states, "Now more than ever, young people need to be exposed to more economics and personal finance education so that they can make better informed decisions as students, consumers, citizens and constructive contributors to the economy and economic decision making."

The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is a nonprofit organization incorporated in May of 2004 with dozens of academic, business and civic sector partners who support increased youth personal financial education in the Ocean State. The Rhode Island Coalition is an affiliate partner of the national Jump$tart Coalition.

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