Dos Pueblos students highlight importance of financial literacy
Debt among young adults is reaching critical levels. From student loans to debt from credit cards and buy now, pay later plans, young adults are facing a real issue, as a Bloomberg report from 2025 cited that the Federal Reserve found that Americans aged 18 to 29 are now carrying an astounding $1.12 trillion.
As such, teaching kids about the importance of financial literacy is critical.
It is also why contests like the American Bankers Association’s ‘Lights, Camera, Save!’ are resonating more with the younger generation, especially those on the Central Coast.
On March 9, students from Dos Pueblos High School were honored with first and second place in the ABA’s contest, a nationwide initiative designed to promote financial literacy among teens. American Riviera Bank and Montecito Bank & Trust were among the banks supporting the ABA’s contest.
“This is something that’s a good thing, and it’s really helpful,” Laurel Sykes, executive vice president and chief risk officer at American Riviera Bank, said. “When students are helping students, they are able to take really complex concepts and drill them down into things that can be easily understood by people of their own age and that is powerful.”
The first-place winner was Adam Costa, whose entry was chosen by MB&T to advance to the national level and earned a $10,000 prize for his video submission, which focused on the power of consistent saving, demonstrating how even small amounts set aside over time can grow into meaningful financial security.
“It’s important to get ahead because if you’re late, it gets harder to save up,” Costa told the Business Times. “I don’t have any expenses right now, so I could focus on learning ways to make money and save without pressure.”
Costa, a freshman in the school’s engineering program, added that he and his friends do talk about upcoming costs, such as college and more. Asked about what he plans to do with the money, Costa laughed and said: “Save.”
The second-place winner was Ethan Gardiner, who shared the award with classmates Zenia Potter and Deveraux Wigo. Their video submission aimed on the importance on tips for finding money to help pay for college — something that resonates with Potter as a senior who is about to head off for university and Wigo, a junior who will be applying in a few short months.
“We definitely settled on this topic, saving for college, because it really resonated with me and a lot of the juniors as well,” Potter told the Business Times.
Wigo, who served as the director of the ad, and Potter both agreed too that helping create the ad helped themselves become more knowledgeable on the subject.
“It was definitely helpful. There were things that I didn’t even know about on how to save for college and making this video to educate other people helped educate me as well,” Wigo said. “Even if we hadn’t won, the experience was so much fun.”
The power of peer-to-peer education might also be a real key to helping teach financial literacy to future students, said Brianna Aguilar, vice president, manager of community programs at MB&T.
“It’s so powerful because it’s somebody who they can relate to, who’s going through the same things that they’re going through,” she said. “I would love something in the future where we’re able to work with the personal finances class in high school and have them be mentors for students in junior high and elementary because there’s power in once you know something and you’re able to teach it, it sticks more.”
California will require all public high school students to complete a one-semester, stand-alone personal finance course to graduate, beginning with the class of 2030-31. Dos Pueblos currently has a class on personal finance, a popular elective many students are fighting to take, said Bill Woodard.
“I have kids that, after they take the financial literacy class, are starting their own Roth IRA before they even graduate high school, which speaks to the power of doing that,” Woodard said. “When they learn about compound interest, it gets them excited.”
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