The Challenge Program Adds Activities, Aims for More Student Engagement

The Race for Financial Literacy was recently launched by TCP as a novel way to involve students in programming.

Daniels has taken the event, which includes five quiz stations and prizes, to Conemaugh Township Area, Conemaugh Valley and Forest Hills high schools where the institutions partner with GAP Federal Credit Union through The Challenge Program.

Erin Schiffhauer, GAP downtown Johnstown branch manager, said thus far the new offering has been a “really good experience,” adding the students have “really latched onto” it.

Prior to the race, she does eight to 10 presentations with the classes based on the event topics, such as writing checks, investing, saving money and taking out loans.

“It’s financial literacy so they can go into the world and make the best decisions they can,” Schiffauer said.

Willow Maldet, a junior at Conemaugh Township, said she had a lot of fun playing the game.

“I think it’s a good way to be able to learn,” she said.

Madeline Costigan, a Conemaugh Township senior, added it’s a better way for high school students to be educated on those topics.

Race to Financial Literacy is one of several new activities The Challenge Program has launched recently, TCP Senior Marketing Manager Jillian Tocco said.

Other events include Challenge Trivia, based on the board game Kahoot!, and the Immersive Career Day.

Tocco said the trivia program was done throughout schools last year and received “rave reviews.”

That offering brings partner businesses into the schools they work with for games based on the company.

“It’s just an interactive way for the students to be engaged with our program,” Tocco said.

The idea for these games stemmed from a desire to refresh The Challenge Program events to better engage learners throughout the state.

Tocco said instead of having people talk at the students, these activities get them involved.

“High-growth industries are changing, so we needed to change,” TCP President Barbara Grandinetti said.

She add that the goal is to better meet the needs of the areas the program serves.

The remade career days have also received early success, Tocco said.

Those involve either students going to the partner company or the business visiting the school and learners getting a first-hand account from employees about their careers and responsibilities.

Students take a survey on the experience after the event and can also fill out an job application if interested.

An example of this, Grandinetti said, was when infrastructure and development company S&B USA brought construction equipment to Brookville Area High School for the students to explore.

Additionally, the school needed a concrete pad installed, so the students witnessed S&B in action, which Grandinetti said was extremely beneficial for them.

She added that interactive events are “so much more meaningful for students than an assembly and talking to them.”

“We’re immersing them in the job, whoever the sponsor is,” Grandinetti said.

Other updates to the program include the opening of a Pittsburgh office last year and the upcoming opening of an office in Philadelphia.

The Challenge Program partners with 150 schools in the commonwealth and more than 90 business partners.