From her classroom door at San Ysidro High School, Ainoha Hogan-Jimenez can see Tijuana, Mexico. It's a daily reminder of the binational community she's served for most of her career. This fall marks Ainoha's 20th year of teaching, 17 of them at San Ysidro. Her own trajectory was reshaped early by financial knowledge, which is why her favorite class to teach is Financial Algebra. Read on for more of her story.

San Ysidro is the only high school serving its rapidly growing community, sitting on 52 acres just two miles from the international border. It's a community whose stories feel familiar to Ainoha. Of the more than 1,800 students, the overwhelming majority are Hispanic/Latino, most speak a language other than English at home, and nearly three in four qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. 

Having taught a variety of math classes during her teaching career, she discovered NGPF resources after adding Financial Algebra to the mix. Already an NGPF Distinguished Educator, she just reached a milestone 100 hours of NGPF professional development, so we were thrilled to find out more about her through the questions below.

What is one of your earliest money memories?

When I was nine years old, I lived in Spain with my maternal grandparents. One day, I noticed my grandmother didn’t count money by its denomination, but rather by its color.

I curiously asked my mother about it and she told me grandma didn’t know how to read or write and didn’t understand numbers well either. Lucky for her, in Spain each denomination was a different color and that is how she learned to manage money.

Looking back, I am amazed how grandma managed money and raised her family well despite being illiterate, living through a civil war, and under a strict dictatorship for most of her life.

What makes you passionate about personal finance education?

Understanding that financial knowledge equipped me to secure success in my life became the driving force that is now my passion to teach personal finance.

Having moved to the United States at the age of 14 as an incoming 9th grader, I struggled to learn a new language and a new culture. I also had limited access to resources growing up with a single mother.

However, five months after my high school graduation, I began working as a teller at a local credit union. Within two months of working at the credit union, I moved out at 18 and became financially independent. Seven months later, I was the first person in my family to attend college. By the age of 22, I purchased my first home while still deciphering my career path.

The financial knowledge I was exposed to quickly propelled my life in a direction I was not expecting. I believe my story could motivate and encourage students in similar circumstances. Students can find hope to change the trajectories of their lives and break the cycle of generational poverty.

Ultimately, I was grateful for the opportunities presented over the four years of learning and growing in the financial industry. Thus, I fell in love with numbers and mathematics, and decided to become a high school teacher.

Can you provide an example of how a lesson taught in class helped a student and/or someone in their family make a better money decision?

Many graduated students have reached out to confirm how they have applied the knowledge learned in this class. The most often reported is students confidently completing their own taxes once they graduated and entered the workforce.

The second most common is students computing how much car they can afford before going car shopping. Many students have felt empowered to walk away from a dealership if the numbers offered were not matching their calculations. A couple students proudly shared that the dealership later contacted them to match their desired numbers.

How has being part of the NGPF network helped you personally? Professionally?

NGPF is a very unique platform. It provides such a plethora of financial resources, topics, activities, lesson plans, and relevant updated information. Furthermore, it is constantly evolving and growing. Did I mention this is all free?!? That is what makes NGPF such an amazing resource.

I am so motivated and inspired by learning from NGPF as a teacher and as an individual. Despite my previous financial knowledge and experience, different seasons of life have challenged my behaviors with money. NGPF has allowed me to refocus, recenter and better understand my financial choices with grace. 

Having completed 100 hours of NGPF PD, what do you like about it? And what have been some of your favorite classes or topics?

I love the variety and accessibility of NGPF PDs. The possibilities seem endless when you consider virtual live, on demand, online conferences, or attending FinCamp in person. I really value that PDs are always relevant and updated often. I enjoy the different personalities of the teachers and their passion for the topics they teach. 

Some of my favorite certification courses are Psychology of Money, Paying for College, and Teacher Wealth. Learning about Cryptocurrency, Taxes and Credit also piqued my interest and exposed me to a great deal of new information.

What advice do you have for other personal finance teachers?

Immerse yourself in learning how to teach personal finance by making it personal for you, too. If you are willing to apply the concepts learned and taught and share your experience, it will allow students to have complete buy-in.

Today’s students value authenticity and although NGPF does a great job of curating material and updating content often to stay relevant, when teachers also share their personal growth, mistakes and experience, it goes a long way. Students seem genuinely engaged and more eager to learn when you keep it real with them.

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.

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