Rothesay Netherwood school students, Hasti Kumkar and Shenyi Lu were finalists in the My Money, My Future: Canadian Financial Education Challenge, a national competition created by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education in partnership with CIBC. The competition was created to foster better financial understanding amongst Canada’s six million youth. The duo developed the innovative ‘Shasti’ App that teaches youth (targeted age 14-18) about the foundations of sound financial decisions. ‘Shasti’ features daily tip notifications, a three-minute tutorial video, a word bank with helpful definitions, a social community where users can share their progress, and a goal setting section where users can create and monitor financial goals.
“This was an incredible opportunity for us to develop our skills - we wanted to create something that could help us and others in our demographic learn more about money and how to use it.” Hasti tells [EDIT]ION from the school’s campus located in the heart of Rothesay, New Brunswick. “The effort we put into this project has been very motivating for us," add Shenyi. "It has given us the opportunity to stretch our learning and get out of our comfort zones. Even in the pandemic, we have found a way to put our knowledge and our friendship to good use and create a tool that will educate others. We are looking forward to further developing the app.”
The pair, both in grade ten, were one of ten chosen finalists throughout the country.
To download ‘Shasti’ visit the app store on any device.
Rothesay Netherwood School is located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi’kmaq Peoples. We are honoured to share this place, and as a school community we are committed to being responsible stewards of the land on which we live, teach, and learn, both today and for future generations.