A Win for Teachers and Students
We’re thrilled to announce and celebrate this year’s Cash for Classrooms teacher grant recipients! From hundreds of applications, 10 teachers were chosen to receive $5,000 in total grants.
Now in its sixth year, Cash for Classrooms continues to support Michigan educators who are finding creative ways to make financial education engaging and relevant for students. The 2026 applicants once again brought an inspiring mix of ideas to the table, demonstrating how financial literacy can come to life across different grade levels and subjects. Through hands-on activities focused on concepts like budgeting, saving and entrepreneurship, educators shared practical ways to help prepare students for the financial decisions they’ll encounter throughout their lives.
After reviewing this year’s applications, the scoring committee selected the 2026 recipients based on their objectives, goals and thoughtful use of the $500 grant. We’re proud to recognize these educators and support their efforts to make financial learning meaningful, empowering and fun.
Let’s meet our 2026 Cash for Classrooms grant winners:
Amy Kennedy
School: Power Middle School
City: Farmington Hills, Michigan
Grade Level: 8
Amy’s students will create a flexible materials bank that enables approximately 85 eighth-grade students to budget for and carry out inclusive, student-designed service projects addressing meaningful community needs.
Bradley Sharpe
School: Sandusky Jr/Sr High School
City: Sandusky, Michigan
Grade Level: 11-12
Bradley’s students will use the grant to fund a digital microscope and prepared tissue slides for an accessible interdisciplinary project in which students study muscle tissues, evaluate fictional health-care costs, and adjust budgets for an unexpected medical expense.
Carl Lowe
School: John Adams Middle School
City: Westland, Michigan
Grade Level: 8
Carl’s students are using the grant for reusable simulation, budgeting, and presentation materials that help approximately 150 eighth-grade students connect U.S. history with practical lessons in taxes, inflation, credit, financial crises, career planning, and household budgeting.
Carmen Niemiec
School: Kennedy Elementary
City: Livonia, Michigan
Grade Level: 3
Carmen is using the grant to fund hands-on materials for approximately 90 third-grade students to explore Michigan economics by producing candy cars, designing and marketing products, and applying supply-and-demand concepts during a student-run Market Day.
Christina Ostrander
School: Indian Hill Elementary
City: Grand Blanc, Michigan
Grade Level: K-5
With this grant, Christina will provide books, classroom currency, store supplies, and budgeting materials for a schoolwide project that teaches more than 400 K–5 students to earn, save, spend wisely, share, and distinguish needs from wants.
Dawn Pant
School: Eastside Elementary
City: Constantine, Michigan
Grade Level: K-2, Special Education
Dawn plans to use the grant funds for tactile currency, accessible cash registers, organizers, and marketplace supplies for an inclusive K–2 special education micro-economy that teaches 11 students to earn, spend, save, give, and understand how both cash and digital debit-card purchases reduce limited balances.
Karrie Marciniak
School: Mackensen Elementary
City: Bay City, Michigan
Grade Level: 3
For Karrie’s students, the grant will fund pet-adoption, budgeting, and reading materials for a monthlong project in which approximately 20 third-grade students earn paychecks, save toward a goal, budget for pet-care expenses, and adopt a plush therapy dog to read to at home.
Keturah Brinson
School: NOVA Academy
City: Oak Park, Michigan
Grade Level: 9-12
Ketura will use the grant to fund workbooks, budgeting simulation materials, ledger calculators, financial games, and scenario cards for approximately 60 students. They will use these materials to prepare for and build on their Junior Achievement Park experience after completing virtual simulation courses. Students will create realistic budgets, practice banking, paychecks, and credit decisions, and complete a personal financial portfolio with goals and reflections, using flexible, inclusive activities that build lasting real-world confidence.
Kirk Brackelman
School: Lincoln Elementary
City: Adrian, Michigan
Grade Level: 4-5
Kirk plans to use the grant to fund financial simulations, entrepreneurship materials, calculators, and adaptive PE equipment for a hands-on project in which approximately 45 fourth- and fifth-grade Honors students build money-management skills, then reinvest in their school community by selecting equipment for a shared district bank that expands access and belonging.
Lisa Thompson
School: Mill Creek Middle School
City: Comstock Park, Michigan
Grade Level: 6-8
Lisa is using the grant to fund hands-on materials for Math 4 Life, a workplace-style course in which approximately 120 sixth-grade students earn paychecks, pay bills, budget and comparison-shop for groceries, manage debt, and apply their financial decisions while preparing and operating a restaurant for school staff.
