WEYBURN – The Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) and its partner, CIBC, announced the nine finalists in their My Money, My Future: Canadian Financial Education Challenge, including two Grade 11 students from Weyburn, Sydney Keating, 16, and Aimee Jones, 17.
Their submission, “Uncertain Values” is a board game that teaches its players how to finance their debts, the consequences of making bad financial decisions and the impacts it can have on your mental health.
“We want to teach our players how to manage their money, and what it’s like in the real world. You go through your life with challenges you have to overcome,” said Aimee, noting the player starts the game as an 18-year-old, and decides from the start if they want to go to college or university, or into the workforce, and this choice determines how their paths go for the rest of the game.
“When we heard about this challenge, we decided we wanted to do a board game that was more interactive. We thought it would be easier for players to understand,” she explained, noting players get chance cards that give them challenges and they have to decide on how to deal with them.
Along the way the players can get credit chips to help with purchases like a house or a vehicle, and they can also end up with negative credits, which also impacts their choices. Players can use mental health coupons, and can do positive things like pay their debts off along the way.
“Whoever has the most money and the most credit chips at the end will win,” said Sydney, with the game set for two to four players.
Aimee noted their project was selected by their teacher, Margot Arnold, along with two other projects from the class, and they were surprised to learn theirs was selected as a national finalist.
“It was really exciting. We kind of hoped we would do well, but we never thought we’d be a finalist,” said Aimee.
“We put a lot of work into it,” added Sydney. “We’re still kind of in shock.”
The pair noted they took ideas and suggestions from classmates as well as borrowing elements from games they’ve played or have seen, plus they both did a lot of research on what could work for a board game.
Both Aimee and Sydney are excited also about the prospect of possibly winning one of the cash prizes, with both girls saying they would set the funds aside as an investment or for post-secondary education.
First prize is $10,000; second prize is $5,000, and the third prize is $2,500.
The girls had a question-and-answer time with the judges on Monday, prior to the big announcement of the national prize winners. The finalists’ projects will be showcased on Thursday, June 16, at 10 a.m. CST, and the winners announced on YouTube and Facebook.
The project can be previewed on https://www.mymoneymyfuturechallenge.ca/
Youth, teachers, parents and the general public are welcome to attend the one-hour National Showcase that will be broadcast. Please register at https://mailchi.mp/cfee/mymoneymyfutureshowcase .
The winning submissions plus many of the regional runners-up will be showcased on the website for use by teachers, parents, and youth to learn about money, develop financial skills, and be better able to build a happy and healthy financial future.
