MoneyBuddies - Teaching Financial Literacy 

Alumni Gabriel Sun ‘21 and co-founder Brendan Detamore ‘21 created MoneyBuddies, a student-run financial mentorship program that provides low income youth in grades 3rd-8th with fun and free lessons in basic financial literacy such as budgeting, entrepreneurship, investing and career planning. MoneyBuddies ran virtual workshops with up to 50 students, three locations and developed 25 original lessons.

MoneyBuddies was fortunate to work with Philanthropy Tank who challenge and equip students to implement sustainable service-driven solutions to problems impacting their community. They won a $14,500 grant from three investors for their community program.

“As an active member of the math competition team and FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) at American Heritage, I was able to further explore and solidify my academic interests, building a desire within me to pursue a career at the intersection of tech and business.” said Gabriel, who is now a freshman at Harvard University studying applied mathematics with a specialization in Economics. Gabriel did so much for his community while he was a student at American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach campus. He ultimately hopes to launch a start-up with a large social impact. We are quite confident that he will continue on this path in college. “I plan to expand MoneyBuddies, drawing from my academic background and collaborating with peers to create comprehensive and enjoyable lessons in financial literacy that all Americans can access”.