ACA students have been participating in a fascinating program that teaches students financial literacy through a series of games based on life financial decisions – and learned a valuable lesson they weren’t counting on.
Recently, Arizona Charter Academy had the opportunity to send twelve students to the Thrive Time Challenge tournament and compete for scholarships worth up to $10,000. After round 1, seven out of twelve students were still standing and advanced to the second round. After round 2, they were down to just two. These semi-finalists didn’t take home any of the scholarships they were playig for, but they did come away winners in an unexpected way.
One of ACA’s students, during round 1, had a prime opportunity to cheat and win the game. With scholarships up to $10,000 at stake, the pressure to win was high. But he chose a different path and played with integrity and honesty the ACA way. His adult supervisor for the game, who happened to be the executive director for the Tonto Creek Camp, took notice, and approached the ACA staff members present at the tournament. He commented that he had never seen a student exhibit such integrity and honesty. He then awarded all twelve students a full scholarship to attend the ASU/SEED business boot camp this summer in the cool pines of Payson.
We couldn’t be more pleased with our students and can’t wait to see what awaits them this summer!
