Financial Education

Do you have what it takes to solve a problem with an innovative solution? 

Bring a team of 4 high school students to the 9th annual Shark Tank Competition.  

Date: Thursday, November 2, 2023                      

Place: Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City
2842 W 47th Ave, Kansas City, KS 66103

 

Do your students have what it takes to solve a problem with an innovative solution?  In Central Bank of KC's Shark Tank Competition, teams will receive a problem on the day of the competition and will create a product or service to solve that problem. Each team will create a business plan and present to the judges. The competition is limited to 2 teams per school unless there is space available after the registration deadline. Prep materials will be provided by JAGKC to teachers 4 weeks ahead to prepare the students for the competition.  

• Laptops will be available for every team courtesy of PC’s for People.
• Cell phones are allowed during the competition.
• Competition is limited to the first 20 teams registered.
• Lunch and snacks provided for all team members
• Prizes awarded to 1^st and 2 place teams
• Hosted by Junior Achievement of Greater KC
• Sponsored by Central Bank of Kansas City
  

 

Registration is open until September 29th.  

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Are you a spender, saver, dreamer, or goal-setter?

Take this short quiz and find out!

Central Bank of Kansas City is passionate about financial education in our community and we love to teach fun sessions about saving and other important topics around our community - whether we’re teaching a saving lesson to 1^st graders at Scuola Vita Nuova, or teaching a 5-session Junior Achievement program to 3^rd graders or talking with the seniors at Don Bosco Senior Center about identity theft and scams.

Mind Drive – High school students learned about banking and resources from cb staff

St. Mark's Center (preschool) – FinLit sessions for parents to help on budgeting, saving, etc.

Don Bosco Senior Center – Popular sessions include How to Avoid Scams, How to Prevent Against ID Theft and Smart Money Management. We also teach the Financial Fitness portion of the Aging Mastery Program twice a year. 

Money Smart Day at the downtown KC Library – Popular session called Best New Money Apps 2019 (Check out the list here) 

St. Mark's Center (preschool) – Family Game Night is a favorite to host - ,\math-themed games

Junior Achievement of GKC - Loved teaching JA curriculum to elementary students 

Teach Children to Save –Each year we visit 6+ classrooms at Scuola Vita Nuova and Garfield Elementary School to talk about the importance of saving. Congressman Cleaver has helped us teach these literature based FinLit sessions. 

Back in 2008, we partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of KC and other partners to start an initiative that is now called Money Smart KC. Through this initiative, Central Bank has helped present hundreds of educational programs to adults, teens and children. Money Smart KC has over 300 partners that help deliver financial education through the Money Smart KC initiative. Also, Money Smart KC (MSKC) launched a website where you can find tips and tools on a variety of topics(36 on our main topic page) to help you manage and grow your money.  Everything from credit to insurance to retirement can be found on these topic pages. Also make sure to check out the year-round calendar of events where you can learn about everything financial (up to 100 events each month).  

The 7^th Annual Shark Tank competition was held at the Junior Achievement of Greater KC (JAGKC) Youth Learning Lab in October 2021. This year, seventeen teams participated from four area high schools: Lincoln College Prep, Washington High School, Raytown South High School and Raytown High School. 

A total of 67 students arrived at JAGKC Youth Learning Lab and were given a challenge: there are many food deserts in the Kansas City area. What start up business could your team develop to provide goods or services at a reasonable price that could assist local citizens in need of healthy food in close proximity to their homes?

Five distinguished judges scored the teams and chose the 1st and 2nd place winning teams. Judges for the 2021 Shark Tank Competition were Jenny Miller - KC SourceLink; Jim West-Clarion Biotech; Grant Barnum-CHES, Inc.; Davin Gordon-Hallmark Foundation; and Judge Lisa Hardwick.

Steve Giles, President and CEO presented the 1^st and 2^nd place winners their checks ($1000 for the 1^st place team and $500 for the 2^nd place team). Congratulations to the 1^st place Shark Tank 2021 winners from Raytown South High School: Cilina Touch, Travon Howard Bray and Ryan Bass. Congratulations to the 2^nd place winners from Raytown South High School: Jackson Burnos, Nathaniel Osciak, Charles Wolfe and Guy Price.

The competition was a great success and all the students had creative and innovative ideas. Steve Giles, President and CEO of Central Bank of KC said, “It’s really inspiring to see these innovative entrepreneurs compete in the Shark Tank Competition each year.”

Many thanks to Pc's for People who provided computers for each team to use as well as providing help from a tech expert throughout the day.  Sarah Cousineau from Central Bank of Kansas City with the help of a great team at Junior Achievement organized the competition.  We are so grateful to Junior Achievement for also hosting the competition at their amazing new space. Our judges deserve a lot of gratitude for taking time out of their busy schedules to help judge and for their encouragement to these aspiring entrepreneurs. And finally, thank you to the teachers and students for making this year's competition so amazing!

If you are interested in Shark Tank or would like a financial educator to come to your classroom or organization please email Sarah Cousineau, VP of Marketing/Community Outreach.