TOPEKA — A high school senior from Great Bend was among the five winners in the 2018 Kansas Financial Scholars Essay Contest announced Monday. Baleigh Fry, Great Bend High School, was the fifth-place winner in the contest, which is sponsored by the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner, the Kansas Insurance Department and the Office of the State Bank Commissioner. She received a $500 tuition scholarship to her choice of a Kansas school of higher education for the 2018-2019 school year.
The winners, along with four honorable mention students, were honored at an awards ceremony in Topeka.
Seniors from across the state submitted a total of 75 two-part essays for the annual contest. To be eligible, students must have participated in at least one of three financial literacy programs sponsored by the state agencies: EverFi, Stock Market Game, or the Personal Finance Challenge. Kansas high schools voluntarily participate in the programs.
Students were asked to write a short essay on either their financial and lifestyle expectations 20 years from now, or the experiences and role models that have shaped their financial views and habits up to the present. In a follow-up essay, students provided an analysis of the cost of various schools of higher education, the positive and negative aspects of student loans, and the earning potential of their chosen field.
The winning essay is posted on the website of the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner, at http://ksc.ks.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/428.
“The essay contest highlights the knowledge students have gained through participation in financial literacy programs,” said Jennifer Cook, deputy bank commissioner, Division of Consumer and Mortgage Lending. “This knowledge will help prepare them for the next step in their lives. We are pleased to join in support of these financial literacy programs.”
“By year’s end, a grand total of $30,000 in scholarship money will have been awarded over the past four years to Kansas seniors who choose to attend a school of higher learning right here in Kansas,” said John Wine, securities commissioner.
“Our agencies believe that these investments in our young people now will have future benefits for the state of Kansas,” said Clark Shultz, assistant commissioner of insurance. “We are working together to ensure that all Kansas students have access to these quality financial education programs.”
For more information about the financial literacy programs offered through the state agencies, contact Shannon Santschi, director of investor education, at the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner, 785-296-1055 or visit the Securities Commissioner’s website, www.ksc.ks.gov.