State Treasurer Curtis Loftis Recognizes Christen Sanders of Northwestern High School as Educator of the Month

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis has recognized Christen Sanders of Northwestern High School in Rock Hill as the South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program’s Educator of the Month for November.

“I continue to be grateful for the efforts of educators like Christen Sanders who are using personal finance education to help students make informed financial decisions,” Treasurer Loftis said. “Through our South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program, we are helping young adults become more conscientious about their financial habits.”

Ms. Sanders earned a Bachelor of Science in hospitality, retail and sports management from the University of South Carolina in 2012 and an MBA from Devry University in 2014. She began her teaching career as a business education instructor at A.R. Rucker Middle School in Lancaster, S.C. Sanders also served as an adjunct professor at Midlands Technical College where she taught various financial literacy courses to high school students participating in TRiO Upward Bound, a program designed to guide and prepare students for success in college. Since 2019, she has been a family and consumer science teacher at Northwestern High School and Rock Hill Virtual Academy.

“I worked at a major financial institution for a few years and saw how many of my customers had little understanding of basic financial concepts, much less the products they were using at the bank,” Sanders said. “That motivated me as an educator to incorporate financial literacy lessons into my curriculum to better prepare my students to have a successful financial future. My motto is that everyone needs to know how to manage their money regardless of how much or how little of it one has.”

The South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program provides incentives to K-12 teachers who are experts in the area of financial literacy and have a desire to teach professional development workshops to other educators in their schools and districts. Through the program, participating teachers have access to specialized training and financial literacy curriculum resources that better enable them to promote financial literacy education in K-12 schools.

Sponsored by Future Scholar, South Carolina’s 529 College Savings Plan, and in partnership with SC Economics, this statewide financial literacy initiative aims to increase teacher support and involvement in incorporating personal finance education into the curriculum.

About Future Scholar
Future Scholar, South Carolina’s 529 College Savings Plan, is administered through the State Treasurer’s Office. For more information, visit FutureScholar.com or follow @SCStateTreasurer on Facebook. Future Scholar is self-supported and does not receive taxpayer funding.