
Photo courtesy of Steven Johnson.
Vestavia Hills High School placed in the top 16 teams at the National Personal Finance Challenge in Atlanta in June 2025. From left are Jack Huginine, Ben Cusmariu, Ethan Melenevsky and Jeffrey Zhao.
Vestavia Hills High School’s personal finance team placed among the top 16 teams in the country at the Council for Economic Education’s National Personal Finance Challenge in Atlanta in June.
Students Andy Sheng, Ben Cusmariu, Anjie Deng and Ethan Melevensky won first place in the Alabama state competition in April, qualifying them for nationals. Sheng and Deng were out of the country for nationals, so Jeffrey Zhao and Jack Huginine served as substitutes.
Nationally, more than 200 teams competed in state competitions affiliated with the National Personal Finance Challenge, and only 34 of those qualified for nationals, said Steven Johnson, a Vestavia Hills High School economics teacher who coaches the Vestavia team.
At nationals, those 34 teams were presented with a fictitious family scenario as a case study for which they had to develop a financial plan. The top 16 teams then were divided into four groups to compete in a Quiz Bowl format.
The team from Vestavia Hills finished second in their four-team group with a score of 13 out of 15, missing first place in their group by just one point, Johnson said. That prevented them from moving on to the Final Four.
However, it’s worth noting the team from Vestavia Hills had a higher score than two of the other teams that made it into the Final Four with a score of 12, Johnson said. Had the Vestavia team been in a different bracket, they would have made the Final Four, he said.
Alabama Council on Economic Education, said she was proud of the team from Vestavia Hills. “They worked so hard and they represented Alabama well.”