A Quiz That Helps You Save Money
The third annual ‘Father Marion Ganey Quiz Competition’ finals took place in Belize City today. Winners from the six districts competed to answer questions about finance and credit union knowledge. Four students went on to the reserve round and at the end of the competition, Xander [Zander] Avelar walked away with first place. News Five’s Andrea Polanco was at today’s competition and has the story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Catholic Priest Father Marion Ganey was instrumental in the credit union movement in Belize, which started in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. Apart from his spiritual work, he is credited with helping the underprivileged by establishing credit union and cooperatives. In his honor, the credit union league created a competition to raise awareness of smart finance decisions and credit unions.
Lovinia Daniels
Lovinia Daniels, Coordinator, Father Marion Ganey Quiz Competition
“The Credit Union is pushing for financial literacy among children in particular. We believe that in order for a family to be wealthy, there has to be knowledge and you have to start with the kids.”
In the third annual finals of “Father Marion Ganey Quiz Competition,” district finalists competed for the title. The first and second place winners are from Cayo.
Xander Avelar, St. Andrew’s Anglican, First Place
“I did not expect to win this. I feel like I am dreaming because I did not expect to win and I doubted that I would win, so I feel extremely surprise.”
Xander Avelar
Andrea Polanco
“You went into the reserve round and then you had to go again because there was a tie; talk to me about what was going through your mind?”
Xander Avelar
“What was going through my mind was that I wanted to win but I did not know if I would since only a few of us were up there, so that that was running through my mind.”
Andrea Polanco
“Talk to me about the competition itself. Was it tough?”
Xander Avelar
“Yes. It was extremely tough. I would say because most of these children studied hard.”
Andrea Polanco
“Having done this competition has it changed your mind or convince you that maybe you would like to save with credit union one day?”
Xander Avelar
“Yes. It would encourage me to go in to a credit union because I am learning what the credit unions do. It is really different than what banks do. So, yeah maybe I might join a credit union.”
Andrea Polanco
“So you won prizes and there are prizes for the school as well; how are you guys gonna celebrate this big win?”
Xander Avelar
“Miss, we are going to go bash [laughs]. So, tonight I think we will celebrate. It feels good winning something for the school because I have done something good for the school. I think that these prizes will really help me because sometimes I may need these things and I don’t have them. Now I have [them].”
Crystel Coc
Crystel Coc, San Antonio R.C. School, Second Place
“Myself and my teacher took time searching for information on websites and it took days for me to learn it and also some of them stayed in my mind.”
Andrea Polanco
“Did you expect to come second today?”
Crystel Coc
“Yes, I expected to come second.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, you guys are going back to Cayo; are you hoping that your school will come back next year and win first place?”
Crystel Coc
“Yes. I hope so.”
Andrea Polanco
“Talk to me about the overall competition; was it hard; was it easy?”
Crystel Coc
“It was a hard competition for me because some of the questions were not easy for me to understand.”
The quiz coordinator was happy with the performance of the young competitors; something she believes will help them in the future.
Lovinia Daniels
“Very, very, very pleased with them. I think they are very smart. It shows that they are interested and I think that is what will push them to go further. Because as you can see from they are small, they are understanding finance from this school age so it means that when they grow up they will be financially wise.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
