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On Saturday, Dec. 10, 12 finalists, chosen from a field of 30 Allegheny College student entrants, competed virtually in the 2022 Zingale Financial Literacy Challenge, hosted by the Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business & Economics and sponsored by Lance ’77 and Karen Zingale. Graham Kralic ’25 took home the first-place trophy. Rounding out the top finishers were Reece Smith ’25 in second place and fourth-year students Paige Downey and Kevin Lee tying for third. Mykyta Kovabasa ’27 garnered an honorable mention award.

“We designed our financial literacy program, which includes ECON 010 – Financial Literacy, our ‘Adulting 101’ campus-wide seminar series, and the Zingale Financial Literacy Challenge, to ease the anxiety of our students as they enter their workforce,” said Chris Allison, Co-Director of the Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business & Economics. “Based on the quality of this year’s entries and presentations, it seems as though our students are taking the lessons to heart. Our judges found it difficult to select winners because the overall quality of the presentations was so high.”

The Zingale Financial Literacy Challenge is a competition in which students develop and submit a personal financial budget and investing plan appropriate for life after graduation. The competition is open to all Allegheny students; however, participation in the challenge is a mandatory assignment for students taking ECON 010. There are $5,000 in prizes and trophies awarded to student winners.

Students each spend upwards of 20 hours developing their plans for the competition. In their plans, students outlined their financial goals and the steps to achieve them, including:

• A monthly budget
• A brief discussion of the impact of the current state of the economy
• An investment strategy that shows an understanding of the return characteristics of different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds
• An asset allocation, which is the mix of stocks and bonds that fits the student’s ages a well as investment objectives

For more information about the Zingale Financial Literacy Challenge, visit the Bruce R. Thompson Center for Business and Economics website.