UHart Student Team Recognized in Contest to Address the Nation's Financial Crisis

Members of a student team from the University of Hartford have received Special Recognition for their video submission to the iOme Challenge, a national effort to address the nation’s financial crisis.

Members of the student team are: Sabrina Amaral, Amanda Ashley, Andrew Cacchio, Kevin Cifone, Melissa Jaspon, and Frank Piechota.

The team submitted an essay and video to the contest as a class project for Assistant Professor Katharine Owens's POL110: Power and Politics course. The University of Hartford team was one of eight teams in the nation recognized for their submission.

See the team's video (Click "Special Recognitions").

iOme (I-owe-me) was established in 2009 with the support of PAi (Plan Administrators, Inc.) and is organized and administered by Dr. David G. Wegge, professor of political science and executive director of the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wis. Adi Redzic serves as iOme’s managing director. The organization focuses on challenging college students to change the world by investing now in their lifelong financial security.

This year, teams participating in the challenge were asked to imagine they were serving as President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors and to develop a policy proposal to be introduced in Congress in January 2013 that would create incentives and remove barriers to financial savings for the Millennial Generation. Teams were also required to submit a short video that would help sell their plan to the Millennials, the public and members of Congress.

Finalists were judged by a blue ribbon panel of distinguished experts that included Dr. Angela Lyons, Mr. Martin Merzer, Dr. Michael Price, Ms. Laura Schwartz, and Dr. Charles Wise. The 2012-13 iOme Challenge was sponsored by Sage North America, the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) and Plan Administrators Incorporated (PAi).