A team of students from Utah Valley University took home the gold at the 2021 national Knowledge Bowl.

Alisa Nguyen of Saratoga Springs, Kayla Greer of St. George, and Davis Allen of American Fork, all students in UVU’s Personal Financial Planning program, took first place in the competition, which was held in November and sponsored by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education.

Each Knowledge Bowl team was made up of three undergraduate students. The various teams competed against one another in a game show-style competition and answered 40 questions centered on the AFCPE Core Competencies, which focus on planning, managing and educating others on aspects of financial planning and investing.

The competition tested the participants’ knowledge of debt management, personal finance and financial counseling. Ultimately, the team with the most points won the competition.

“The AFCPE Knowledge Bowl isn’t just about financial education,” Allen said in a press release. “As important as that is, we combine education and the psychological-behavior side of money. I now have a stronger sense of how I can help clients navigate their personal finances by helping them to better understand their own views of money.”

The UVU team was coached by Ryan Law, a UVU faculty member and recipient of the 2021 AFCPE Distinguished Fellow Award. This award is given to someone who has made a significant impact on the AFCPE over the past year, and it was presented to Law at the competition.

“Ryan is thoroughly deserving of this award, and this award came as a surprise to absolutely nobody in the industry,” Norm Wright, dean of UVU’s Woodbury School of Business, said in the release. “Perhaps the only surprise is that he is not named every year as the national winner of this prestigious recognition.”

The Knowledge Bowl was held virtually this year, due to COVID-19. After competing against fellow teams from Utah State University, Kansas State University, Texas Tech University and more in the final round of the competition, UVU persevered to the winning spot with 32 total points.

“I am proud of the work that Alisa, Kayla, and Davis put into this competition,” Law said in a press release. “They studied hard and worked together as a team. It was a tough competition with great competitors and hard questions. It felt great to come out on top!”

The AFCPE was first established in 1984 at Iowa State University. According to the AFCPE website, the organization’s mission is to foster knowledge, skill and integrity within the personal finance profession by certifying, connecting and supporting personal finance professionals.

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