Congratulations to the 25 recipients of the NGPF Scholarship to attend Jump$tart’s National Educator Conference in Atlanta, November 4-6, 2022! 

The Jump$tart National Educator Conference (NEC) annually brings together PreK through 12th grade teachers from across the U.S. who are dedicated to financial education in the classroom. Since 2018, the Jump$tart NEC has been an all-scholarship event. NGPF is honored to sponsor these educators who have gone above and beyond to work toward a future where all students are guaranteed a personal finance course before graduation.

Adam Cole

Adam Cole is a dedicated educator who is passionate about preparing his students for life after high school. He has taught for 17 years and currently teaches statistics, personal finance, and accounting for Needham High School. He also coaches both the Boys Swimming Team and the Golf Team and loves to travel and spend time with his wife and two sons.

Addie Taylor

Addie Taylor is the Personal Finance Program Specialist for the Fulton County School District in Atlanta, Georgia. Addie has 10 years of experience in education and holds a B.A. in History, an M.A.T in Secondary Education, and an Ed.S in Teacher Leadership.

Angela Johnson

Angela Johnson has been teaching for over 30 years in MA & MD. Throughout her career, she has taught Social Studies. FACS, Principles of Business, Teacher Academy, Career Research & Development and many other courses in CTE. Unfortunately, financial literacy is not a graduation requirement in MD, but Angela is committed to advocating for this course to become a state mandate!

Collette La Trese Keeton

Dr. Collette L. Keeton is a Master College and Career Readiness Teacher this 2022-2023 school year. She teaches CRE/CTE Business Education virtually to K-12 high school students. Collette is thrilled to attend the Jump$tart conference on this wonderful NGPF scholarship!

Courtney Poquette

Courtney Poquette is the only Business Educator at Winooski High School, Vermont's smallest and most diverse school district with over 27 languages spoken. She has been an advocate for Financial Literacy education at the state level, by organizing state Jump$tart conferences. You can also find her educating other educators in Champlain College's Financial Literacy Institute's Graduate Class, "Teaching Financial Literacy."

Daria Hall

Daria Hall is in her fifth year at Harding University High School in Charlotte, NC. She has taught Civics and Economics and Economics and Personal Finance. She looks forward to integrating financial literacy into all of the subjects she teaches.

Diana Wisniewski

Diana Wisniewski is a Middle School Enrichment teacher for high ability students. Diana teaches Financial & Tech Lit embedded within her GT program. She has participated in over 120 hours of NGPF PD for both personal and educational purposes. Diana holds 7+ teaching certificates and enjoys the collaboration opportunities that NGPF provides with teachers across the nation.

Ebony Davis

Ms. Ebony Davis is a Social Sciences educator in Miami, Florida, with 14 years of teaching experience at the high school level. Currently, she oversees the Financial Literacy component as a Curriculum Support Specialist for the M-DCPS Division of Academics, Department of Social Sciences.

Erin Fraser

Erin Fraser is in her 21st year of teaching at Sanford Middle School in Sanford, ME. She teaches personal finance to her 8th graders as part of the social studies curriculum. She is looking forward to finding new ways to engage her students in personal finance education before they get to high school.

Jacqueline Collins

Jacqueline Collins is a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technical Education, specializing in Business, Marketing, and Financial Services. She was named the 2021 National Business Teacher of the year and most recently served on the team that created the 2021 National Standards for Financial Literacy. Her passions include financial literacy, entrepreneurship, instructional technology, STEM, and #geekyshirtFriday!

Jenny Trieu

Jenny is a Math and Financial Literacy teacher at Boston Community Leadership Academy. She earned her BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ed.M from Harvard University. This is her third year teaching Financial Literacy and 17th year teaching overall.

John C. Ninfo II

John Ninfo is a retired U. S. Bankruptcy Judge, Founder of the CARE Financial Literacy Program, and a Jump$tart Odom Award Recipient.

Julius Prezelski

Julius has been teaching a required Personal Finance class at the College Prep and Honors level for the past five years. He also moderates the Business Club, Investment Club, and the Personal Finance Challenge Teams. In 2020, Mount St. Joseph won the Maryland Personal Finance Challenge, and in 2021 Julius was awarded the Ted Beck Effective Educator Award at the National Jump$tart Conference. Julius is passionate about helping others in their financial lives.

Kerri Herrild

Kerri Herrild is in her 21st year of teaching. Business and Personal Finance is her passion. "The connections I have made through this amazing community of committed professionals has changed my life for the better to help me stay motivated to make positive change on behalf of my students. I am so grateful for the resources and community that NGPF has given us, and I look forward with connecting with even more great people at the 2022 Jump$tart NEC."

Kerry Woodward

Kerry Woodward is the Executive Director of Philadelphia Financial Scholars, a personal finance and entrepreneurship program reaching 1,200 students in the 2022-23 school year.

Leola Rutherford

Leola is a 6th Grade classroom teacher, technology, and debate coach at Girdwood PreK-8 School in Alaska. Personal Finance education is an integral part of preparing students for their journey to adulthood. NGPF Middle School Curriculum has become the cornerstone of their semester-long economics focus, daily classroom morning meetings, and year-long mini-society.

Marti Diaz

Marti Diaz has been teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools since 2003. She taught mathematics her first years of teaching and has been coaching teachers for the last decade. It is a passion of Marti's to help people become financially literate. Marti works for a district that received the FEE grant . She is currently working with teachers to develop a personal finance course as a graduation requirement.

Meg Lovercamp

Meg teaches Personal Finance exclusively to 9-12 graders at Wenatchee High School. WHS became a gold-standard school in 2021-22. She says NGPF was a life-saver when first teaching remote and has also enriched her role as an educator.

Melissa Gordon

Melissa graduated with a departmental honors in business, management, marketing, and technology education and secondary math from Eastern Michigan University, where she was also a member of the golf team. She received her Masters degree in Educational Media and Technology also from EMU. She's entering her 13th year of teaching and loves teaching personal finance because preparing kids for their future can change their world.

Sheila Miller

Sheila Miller is in her 28th year of teaching Business Education. Although a full course in Personal Finance is not a state requirement in NH, Mrs. Miller was successful in getting it made a graduation requirement at her school and has been teaching it for over 20 years

Sheila Salehian

Sheila is thrilled to use her many years of education and experience in Financial Services to introduce Nevada's teachers to the VERY BEST curriculum and professional development offered today. (NGPF/EconLowDown/Jump$tart Clearinghouse Resources/etc.) Sheila is a lifelong learner and missed her calling as a full time teacher, so she is making up for it as an NGPF Financial Empowerment and Equity Fee Grant recipient. Sheila is dedicated to reaching as many teachers and students as humanly possible with invaluable lessons in personal finance.

Susan Bistransin

Mrs. Bistransin is a veteran teacher of 35 years and an experienced financial educator. She was awarded the Maryland Outstanding High School Financial Educator by Md State Dept of Ed and is now the Financial Education and Empowerment Coordinator for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. As a believer in the power of financial education, she worked for many years as an advocate for a Financial Literacy graduation mandate in her school system and achieved that goal in May of 2020.

Tara Razi

Tara Razi is in her 9th year teaching, 8th year at San Marcos High School in San Diego, CA. She teaches Personal Finance as well as US History, and spends her free time doing volunteer pet therapy with her two golden retrievers, Molly and Nala! The SD Union Tribune published this article on the cover of the business section earlier this year. 

Tiffany Askins

Tiffany Askins is the Personal Financial Literacy Specialist for Denver Public Schools. She is honored to be serving in this role to support secondary schools in implementing the new personal financial literacy graduation requirement. In her personal time, Tiffany is working on traveling to all 50 states before she hits the Big 5-0!

Travis Towne

Dr. Travis Towne teaches Civic Literacy and Economics & Personal Finance at an Early College High School and is passionate about helping students learn life skills they will utilize throughout their lives. He is an Army Veteran with service during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a Flight Operations Specialist and enjoys participating in local community events along with his family. Travis is always excited about the learning process and constantly looks for growth opportunities to participate in and bring others along with him.

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.