Denver Students Play 'Financial Football'

DENVER–College and high school students were the focus of a "Financial Football" event held at the ESPN Zone in Denver Tuesday afternoon.

The program, organized by the Young Democrats of America and sponsored by Visa, used football to teach students from Denver West High School about financial literacy.

Participating students were split into two teams whose offenses would move down the field depending on whether or not they answered multiple-choice financial questions correctly, such as what homeowners would do if they were having difficulty paying off their mortgage.

The program comes at a time when rising credit card debts among college students are reaching new highs.

Freshman Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC), a former quarterback for the New Orleans Saints in town for the Democratic National Convention, was one of the many in attendance and applauded the effort to spread financial literacy.

"Look at the finances of our country and look at the personal and federal debts that afflict our nation," Shuler said. "The only way that we can get past these problems is to educate the public, and there is nowhere better to start than teaching young students how to make responsible financial decisions."

"So many American students come out of high school knowing how to balance equations, but how many know how to balance their checkbooks?" Shuler added.

Also in attendance was Rod Smith, a former star wide receiver for the Denver Broncos who has worked on the "Financial Football" program with Visa and ESPN since 2006. Smith commended the idea of teaching something as important as financial literacy through a fun medium like football.

"Through this program, we are exposing students to something that far too many of them don't see at home," Smith said. "This innovative method is reaching kids at a time in their lives when they can absorb the most information possible."

Smith also noted that the program, by splitting the students up into teams, promoted teamwork among the students.

"Everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different experiences," Smith said. "But by working together, these teams can reach the right answers while learning from one another."

Students said they came away from the game feeling like they had learned a lot.

"This program was a whole lot of fun," said David Lira, a junior at Denver West High School, "and even though both teams tied 7-7 in the end, everyone won because we were able to learn a lot about managing finances that we didn't know before."

—Staff writer Prateek Kumar can be reached at kumar@fas.harvard.edu.