CHANDLER, AZ — Students in Hamilton High School's Finance Club are making Arizona proud. They recently won the state championship in the National Personal Finance Challenge and just returned home after representing the state at the national competition in Atlanta.
The 17-year-olds beat dozens of other teams to claim the state title, which tests students on personal finance knowledge in a format similar to a spelling bee.
"Representing a state is a big accomplishment for all of us," said Visruth Manikandan, who helped his team win the competition.
The students have been building their financial knowledge for years. Vyshal Sreenivas, who also competed, said his parents introduced him to investing early on.
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"Both my parents used to invest in stocks, and they taught me at a very young age, like when I was 12," Sreenivas said.
Sreekar Charan said he started putting his allowance to work in the stock market.
"I started off picking my own stocks, and now, since I have less time to actively manage the portfolio, I invest more in the whole market," he said.
Beyond competing, Sreenivas said he believes there should be stronger finance education requirements in Arizona.
"Arizona has a requirement for some basic personal finance education in a class, but we don't have, like, a separate class just to educate people in personal finance," he said. "There's like a lot of states across the United States who have specialized personal finance classes that are a requirement for people to graduate. So, I think maybe pushing towards more education reforms could help them."
After winning the state title, the team competed at the national championship in Atlanta, placing 17th out of 35 teams. They said they plan to compete again next year with their sights set on a national title.
