Jack Sutton

“I wish I could have shown them the benefits of being smarter with those funds, how spending on unnecessary and materialistic wants hurts them in the long run,” Sutton says.

An exploration of the San Diego Public School District’s curriculum revealed that courses in personal finance were absent. “I always had a passion for researching the impacts of financial literacy education and finding ways to incorporate it into education,” he says. “As much as I wanted to start something like this in high school, I felt that I would have much more access and impact at the University level.”

Cue Keith Olson, DBA, CFA, assistant professor of practice with the Department of Finance and Economics at the Heider College of Business. 

Financial literacy curriculum colleagues

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Heather Doering, director of business programs at Creighton’s John P. Fahey Career Center, connected Sutton with Olson, knowing the two had a shared passion for personal finance. They quickly discovered they had much more in common.

Olson had authored a financial literacy curriculum five years ago. But whereas COVID gave birth to Sutton’s curriculum, the pandemic disrupted Olson’s efforts. He resumed his labors when he and Sutton began to work together after Creighton finance alumna Olivia Moyle, who is pursuing a graduate business degree at Duke, reached out to Olson to solicit HCB student participation in Fuqua School of Business’ New Ideas Competition.

Olson’s original four-year curriculum changed dramatically over the course of their collaboration. The result is a collection of four workshops for high school juniors and seniors, which Olson calls more manageable than his original, “overly ambitious” curriculum.

“Jack took an idea and improved it significantly in order to participate in the competition,” says Olson.

Sutton says he and Olson “met constantly” throughout the fall semester and winter break to create a dynamic business plan.

“Dr. Olson has been great at translating my ideas into feasible concepts for the project. There have been numerous times when I am hardly able to put my thoughts into words, but Dr. Olson knows exactly what I am trying to convey,” says Sutton. And he “has been a great mentor to me since the start of the project. He brings a large amount of experience and connections that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to access.”

One such connection is Jacob Idra, BSBA’22, founder of the Republic of South Sudan (ROSS) Leaders nonprofit. Idra, whom Olson also mentored as an undergraduate student, offered Sutton guidance and shared the lessons he learned in establishing ROSS Leaders.

For Sutton, participation in the Duke University competition has produced numerous benefits. For one, he learned the importance of networking. “If I hadn’t reached out to the Career Center about this type of project and met Dr. Olson, I doubt I would have had the confidence to apply for the New Ideas Competition,” he says.

Earning a grand prize is rewarding, but even more so are the connections Sutton has made. “The people whom I have met from this project have had such a large impact not only on IMPAX but on my character as a whole,” he says. “These connections have shown me what it means to make a positive impact on my community and the importance of being active in your community.”

Sutton and Olson’s work is far from completed. They are currently working with a handful of Omaha area high schools to pilot IMPAX as an extracurricular activity.

“This project has really shown me if you put your mind to something, anything is possible,” says Sutton. “A person who excels doesn’t hold back because of fear.”

It’s a motto that has served him well, resulting in a mentor, a nonprofit and a grand prize award.