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Fi Foundation / Saint Ambrose Investment Club
Grades 6–8 · Learn by doing

Big questions.
Brighter futures.

Understand how money works. Explore real companies. Learn to make thoughtful decisions, together.

Explore the first lesson
What would
you do with
$1,000?

Build a practice portfolio, explain your choices, and discover why the questions matter as much as the numbers.

Try the portfolio lab

Your next discovery

Start anywhere. Stay curious.
01

Think like an owner

Go beyond a familiar logo. Ask what a company does and how it earns money.

Open the classroom
03

Bring the conversation home

Understand the optional account journey and what families need to know.

Visit parent resources
Welcome to the 2026–27 restart.
Learning activities are available now. Meeting dates and the current parent account-opening package will be added after confirmation.

Understand before you invest.

Our school-based program connects financial literacy with leadership, critical thinking, ethical stewardship, and faith in action. Students practice asking why, listening to one another, and considering how money can serve their families and communities.

Classroom

Learn it. Question it. Try it.

Six proposed restart modules, adapted from the pilot’s themes. Work through them with a facilitator or a parent. These are learning activities, not scheduled class announcements.

Watch & discuss

See the thinking behind the choices.

This space will bring classroom ideas to life through approved teaching clips and student presentations.

No program videos have been released here yet.
Approved video links and separate media permissions are needed before classroom footage is published. For now, work through the ownership lesson and discuss its example together.
Planned teaching series

The Gillingham Project

Capture the questions, examples, and teaching methods that help students understand investing. The historical concept includes educator materials and short modules.

Future concept

Invested: The 10-Year Journey

A proposed long-term story about financial habits and learning. No filming schedule or research enrollment is announced.

Future concept

Kidpreneurs

Financial Adventures explores entrepreneurship through student ideas, simple business plans, and reflection.

Use this viewing guide

  1. Before watching: write one question you want answered.
  2. During the clip: record one claim and the evidence offered.
  3. After watching: explain the idea in your own words.
  4. Discuss: what would you verify before acting on it?
Do the work

Make the learning yours.

Try a knowledge check, then explain your thinking. This page does not submit answers to your teacher or save your work.

Starting-point knowledge check

Use these same questions again after the modules to reflect on what changed.

Your reflection journal

Do not include your name, account information, or balances. Reflections are not saved or submitted. Download before leaving or reloading. Moving between the 11 club sections keeps your writing on this page. Browser exit warnings may not appear on every device. Share it only through your teacher’s approved channel.

At-home assignment: With a trusted adult, choose a familiar company. Explain its product, its customers, one competitor, and one risk. Bring your reasoning to class; no purchase is required.
Portfolio lab · Simulation

A thousand imaginary dollars.
Your reasoning.

Allocate a pretend $1,000 across four learning categories. These categories and amounts are an exercise, not a suggested allocation. No trades or live prices are involved.

Build your allocation

Use whole dollars from 0 to 1,000. Enter zero for unused categories. The snapshot updates as you type.

Your portfolio snapshot

Try a different choice. What changes if you put all $1,000 in one company? What if you need the money soon? Diversification can reduce concentration in one investment, but it cannot prevent every loss. Stock funds and bond funds can both lose value.
Historical teaching artifact · 2025–26 mock holdings

Archived company examples: Amazon, Nvidia, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Visa, Caterpillar, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, and Sherwin-Williams.

The supplied handoff lists nine companies, while an archived lesson describes a ten-company exercise. No tenth holding or allocation has been assumed. These are historical classroom examples, not current recommendations or reported returns.

My account journey

Learn first. Decide together.

The proposed real-account learning layer is optional and parent-involved. You can participate in classroom learning without funding an investment account.

Account opening is not available through this page. The current provider, account type, final parent packet, and oversight arrangements still need confirmation. This guide shows proposed steps, not a student’s personal status. Practice with imaginary dollars while these details are pending.
  1. Talk with your parent or guardian.
    Discuss what you want to learn and what questions your family has.
  2. Review the current parent packet.
    Understand permission, account ownership, investment risks, fees, and the custodian’s responsibilities.
  3. Choose whether to participate.
    Educational participation and media permission are separate choices.
  4. Apply through the confirmed provider.
    The parent or guardian handles the application through the provider’s secure process.
  5. Confirm funding and oversight.
    No mandatory contribution or sponsor seed funding is promised. Any funding method must be confirmed.
  6. Record a learning milestone.
    Explain your thinking with your parent and facilitator. Keep financial information in the approved private system.
For parents & guardians

A thoughtful start, together.

Students practice making decisions, discussing risk, and reflecting on stewardship. Real-account participation is a separate, opt-in learning layer.

Classroom learning

Company research, simulated portfolios, group discussions, and reflection help students explain their choices. Financial results are not a measure of a student’s worth or learning.

Optional account learning

The proposed structure involves a parent or guardian; the exact account type, ownership, and adult responsibilities remain to be confirmed. The school, Foundation, facilitators, and any provider must have clearly defined responsibilities before launch.

Where is the account-opening packet?

The final current parent packet and account provider are awaiting confirmation. Account opening is unavailable until the provider, account type, parent materials, and oversight arrangements are confirmed. Meanwhile, explore the classroom lessons or portfolio lab together.

Expected components include permission, a custodial-account explainer, platform instructions, a risk explainer, an index-fund education sheet, a student questionnaire, and signature pages.

Is investing or contributing money required?

No mandatory funding is part of the proposed program. Families may choose the educational activities without the real-account layer. Historical donor seed-funding ideas are not a current funding commitment.

What does a custodial account mean here?

The program concept involves an adult managing an account for a student. The exact account type and its ownership, control, tax, and financial-aid implications must be explained in the provider’s current materials before a family decides. Historical references to UGMA and possible brokerages do not establish today’s selection.

How are privacy and media handled?

This hub collects no student names, financial balances, account credentials, or submitted assessments. Reflections and quizzes stay in the current page unless you download a reflection. There is no saved student dashboard.

Educational permission does not grant permission to publish photos, recordings, names, or testimonials. Media permission must be obtained separately. Public reporting should use approved stories and aggregate results.

What is an S&P 500 fund versus a total-market fund?

Both can hold many company stocks. An S&P 500 index fund follows an index focused on large U.S. companies. A U.S. total-market index fund generally includes large, medium, and small U.S. companies. Their holdings overlap, and both can lose value. The specific fund’s documents explain its holdings, costs, and risks.

Class discussion: why might a larger number of holdings still leave a fund exposed to a broad market decline?

Student leadership

Everyone has a voice.
Every role has a purpose.

The new roster and officer assignments will be confirmed for 2026–27. Historical student names are not published here.

President & president elect

Prepare the discussion, invite different views, and help the next student leader learn the role.

Vice president

Support teamwork and make sure quieter voices have time to contribute.

Treasurers

Check the simulated portfolio calculations and clearly explain how the numbers were obtained.

Secretaries & note taker

Record decisions, reasons, unanswered questions, and follow-up work.

Every member’s responsibility: Research honestly, ask respectful questions, explain uncertainty, and connect financial choices with integrity and service.

Our discussion agreement

  1. Explain your reasons, not just your answer.
  2. Challenge an idea respectfully; do not attack the person.
  3. Check a source before repeating a claim.
  4. Leave room for uncertainty and a changed mind.
  5. Keep family finances and classmates’ information private.
Impact

Measure what students learn.

We aim to understand participation, knowledge, habits, and the quality of the learning experience. No 2026–27 outcome data has been published yet.

AreaProposed measurePublic reporting
ParticipationEnrollment, attendance, completionAggregate counts
LearningBaseline and checkpoint assessments; reflectionsGroup-level learning change
HabitsVoluntary savings and contribution milestonesPermissioned, aggregate patterns
Program healthVolunteer time, teacher and parent feedbackProgram improvements
StorytellingPresentations and approved testimonialsSeparately approved stories
SupportGrant submissions, program cost, sponsorshipsVerified funding and costs
Reporting plan: Proposed quarterly program reviews and an annual impact report. Identifiable student records belong in permissioned systems, connected through an internal roster ID.

Support the learning

Classroom instruction, materials, technology, and careful measurement are core support needs. The 2026–27 budget, sponsorship terms, and Foundation legal and tax details must be confirmed before a fundraising offer is published. This page does not accept donations or make tax-deductibility claims.

Educator library

A classroom worth repeating.

A proposed facilitation guide for the restart, built from the program’s historical learning themes. Adapt pacing to student needs and the school’s confirmed schedule.

A 50-minute learning session

0–5 minutesOpening question and recap. Invite one student to explain the previous idea.
5–15 minutesIntroduce one concept with an accessible example.
15–30 minutesSmall-group activity. Ask students to record their assumptions.
30–40 minutesCompare decisions and discuss risk, evidence, and stewardship.
40–47 minutesIndividual reflection and a short knowledge check.
47–50 minutesAssign a clear next step and capture unanswered questions.
Assessment and reflection rubric

Emerging: Names a concept but needs help explaining it.

Developing: Explains the concept with an example and identifies a risk.

Applying: Uses evidence, states uncertainty, compares alternatives, and reflects on values.

Use reasoning, not investment performance, to assess learning. Keep identifiable results in the approved school or program system.

Classroom tools and recordkeeping

The pilot used Google Classroom for assignments, Google Sheets for mock portfolios, Canva or Google Slides for recaps, and reflection journals. Current class links have not been supplied.

Before each session: confirm the topic, materials, attendance method, and assignment channel. Afterward: record attendance, learning observations, reflection completion, volunteer time, and next actions in permissioned records.

Replication and teaching capture

The Gillingham Project’s historical concept includes classroom capture, an educator toolkit, a workbook, six to eight video modules, and trainer support. A certification pathway is a future concept, not an available credential.

Confirm educator roles and recording permissions before capture. Current FinMango involvement and the Medina County JDC pilot status have not been established for this restart.

Program updates

The next chapter starts here.

Current direction, historical context, and the details still being confirmed.

2026 restart direction · October 2, 2026

Three priorities for the restart

  1. Prepare the opt-in student account-opening process using the current parent package.
  2. Develop grants and sponsorships through the Fi Foundation.
  3. Establish this learning hub for lessons, parent resources, assignments, and program updates.
Calendar update: The 2026–27 meeting calendar has not yet been confirmed. Archived every-other-Monday dates belong to 2025–26 and should not be used to plan attendance.
Historical record · The 2025–26 pilot

The grades 6–8 program at Saint Ambrose School in Brunswick, Ohio used approximately 45–50-minute sessions every other Monday. The archived overview names Bob Gillingham and James Collins as facilitators and Michelle Dietrich as faculty advisor; current assignments require confirmation.

  • October 6, 2025: portfolio building, diversification, allocation math, and teamwork.
  • October 20, 2025: company analysis, P/E ratios, risk and reward, and responsible AI use.
  • November 3, 2025: market indexes, sectors, mock portfolios, and economic discussion.
What must be confirmed before the next phase?
  • Meeting calendar, roster, student leadership, and current facilitator roles.
  • Foundation governance, legal and tax details, and school/provider responsibilities.
  • Final parent packet, account provider and type, funding method, and oversight.
  • Media permission, privacy workflow, and permissioned records.
  • Current operating budget, grant pipeline, and partner roles.