Think back on this past school year. What stands out to you? Was there an incredible party you went to? Were there any new friendships you made? How about homework assignments – were there any assigned that pushed your brain to the ultimate limits?

High school may seem long but those four years will go by so fast! It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman looking forward to my senior year. Now that my senior year is going to be here right after summertime, I wish I would have treasured being a little freshie at the time. Alot of the great memories we make will be easily forgotten if we don’t make an effort to remember them. A great way to never forget these good times is by sharing them with others!

So, leave a comment describing your favorite or most memorable school year memory from this year! If you made a new friend, started dating that special guy or girl, attended prom and it was awesome, or maybe if you made the high school football team, share it here with other teens!

On a non- academic note, I plan to work for Hollister.  Since I knew my time as MIDFLORIDA’S spokesperson was ending I decided to look for another job and scored one at Hollister!  A part-time job is just what I need for gas money, shopping money, and most important of all… FOOD MONEY!

Going to the beach will definitely be in my schedule for this summer, as well as lounging by the pool and hanging out with all of my friends! I have to cherish this time because next year will be my last year in high school! It’s a bittersweet feeling.

What will your plans be?

Most of us are probably psyched about sleeping in and taking it easy this summer.  That’s what summer break is for, right?  Well, let’s say we shouldn’t spend every single minute doing mindless things and letting our brains turn to jello.  Be sure to get in some occasional study time, too!

Freshmen, you get to relax a little bit! There aren’t really any tests you need to take during the summer, but you might get assigned some summer reading. I recommend that you DO NOT put off reading ’til the last minute. Take your book along with you to the beach and read it while tanning, or on rainy summer days –  just pick it up and get reading over with!

Sophomores, summer time can make or break you! It all depends on whether or not you want to work hard and how much you value your future college education. You can get a head start on the ACT and SAT testing to prepare yourself for when you start to get really serious about the tests… but who knows, maybe your test grades will be great and you won’t even need to retake them your junior or senior year! That just leaves more time the following year for you to research different colleges and find out which one will be the most fun..and one that offers a spectacular education, of course.  (:

Juniors, this year REALLY counts and it’s extremely important that you stay on top of everything. Take it from me, an early case of senioritis during your junior year can be DEADLY. During the summer, complete all of your summer reading and don’t do a half job! Take the ACT and the SAT at least one time and be sure to study really hard for them. Be prepared for a REALLY hard year of schooling but do the best you possibly can! You want your transcripts to look really good when you send to them to different colleges.

Let this summer be filled with amazing memories but don’t forget to grab a book and do a little studying on the way!  You’ll be so glad you did when the next school year rolls around.

Here’s another way that certificates are different from savings accounts - they earn more interest.  And interest is good. It’s free money just for saving your money.   Because you’re agreeing to keep your money with the bank for a specific length of time, the financial institution is willing to pay you more.  Certificates with longer terms earn higher rates while shorter terms earn lower rates.  So, if you’re able to save your money for a longer time, then you can earn more free money.

Is there a catch?

The only downside to a CD is that you will not be able to access your money as easily.  See…with a regular savings account, you can withdraw your money at any time.  Your money is considered “liquid” because it can flow in and out of your savings account as often as you want.  However, with a certificate, your money must stay in the account for the length of the term. There are fees involved if you withdraw money before the term is up. But when you think about it, it isn’t really a downside at all. College is expensive and it’s a huge investment.  If it was up to you to take money out of the account at your own free will, then you would end up with nothing to fund your college experience!   

College Savings Certificates

MIDFLORIDA makes getting a certificate even sweeter with College Savings Certificates.   What’s so great about that, you ask?  Well, with these college certificates, MIDFLORIDA pays a bonus rate on top of their normal certificate rate, and the bonus grows as the term grows. A one-year college savings certificate pays 0.10% bonus, two-year pays a 0.20% bonus, three-year pays a 0.30% bonus, and so on. Pretty cool, huh?

So if you value your college education and you’re wondering how you’ll pay for it, a CD is something you might want to think about!  My friends at MIDFLORIDA would be happy to help you out!

The RT4T spokesperson was a brand new position last year and I was the very first teen to get it all started. Coming into the job last May, I mostly gave my input on what this website should look like, picked out fun giveaways like t-shirts and cups, and brainstormed ideas for the upcoming year! I had no idea what to expect. One of the coolest things was getting to be in my own photoshoot!  How fun!

As the youth spokesperson, one of the biggest tasks at hand is writing blogs. My goal was to reach out to the teenage population and inform them on how to spend and save money wisely. I have actually learned so much more about bank accounts than I ever would have thought about if I hadn’t gotten this position. I haven’t written all my blogs about money, though! Some have been about testing, Pinterest, and even iPhone apps!!! I really like sharing what I have learned with others my age!

Hosting events is another RT4T task – one of my favorite things to do! It’s so much fun to meet new people and give away free stuff. I love seeing people get excited when they have the opportunity to win something.

Events we hosted this year

Halloween Photo Contest
Teens submitted photos of their Halloween costumes and the coolest ones got cash prizes!!!

Turkey Bowling
Free bowling, food, drinks, and dessert were provided. Door prizes and free giveaways were abundant!

Caffeinated Christmas Challenge
Teens were told to look for an important post on Facebook on a certain day. The post shared where I was located with three $20 Starbucks gift cards to give away!

RT4T Super Bowl Pre-Game Party
We kicked off the Super Bowl with a pre-game party. There were free games, free food, and lots of other free stuff. Not to mention great prizes, including gift cards, cash, an NFL jersey, a Kindle Fire and best of all…a 42″ HDTV!

Patrick McMonkey Scavenger Hunt
For the week of St. Patrick’s day, we hid Patrick McMonkey around the Lakeland area with $50 and posted clues on Facebook as to where teens could find him!

They were so much fun – and even when I pass the spokesperson torch on to another teen, I’ll continue to attend these awesome RT4T events!

I even got to appear in the Lakeland Christmas Parade! It was a blast to be on a float with other MIDFLORIDA employees from different branches all around Lakeland!

If my job doesn’t sound awesome… I don’t know what is! So if you want to be the next RT4T Spokesperson and have as much fun as I did, go to doyoufitthebill.com and submit a video telling me why you “fit the bill” and write a sample blog about a financial topic of your choice (that applies to teens of course!)

Good luck!

 As always, before you start thinking about buying anything you should ask yourself several questions:

1. What kind of car will fit my lifestyle?

If you want something small and compact, a VW Bug or Honda Civic would be perfect… but if you have an active lifestyle and you have to transport a lot of things at once then an SUV like a Tahoe or an Explorer would be great. You should also consider gas. The bigger the car, the more gas it will probably use up. And let’s face it, gas is expensive! If you do want a vehicle larger than a Mustang but definitely need something that gets decent gas mileage you could go with a Sorrento!

2. How will this new car affect my insurance?

Sportier cars tend to cost more to insure, the more expensive the car looks… the more money you are going to have to fork out each month. Some insurance companies believe if you drive a sports car, you’re more prone to drive faster and more recklessly. Sedans or other cars similar that have more safety features are usually cheaper.

3. How much am I willing to pay on a monthly car payment?

This is a little tricky because you’re probably thinking, how will I know what my car payment will be until I buy the car. Here’s a helpful tip – get pre-approved on your loan first. By talking to someone at your credit union, they’ll help you figure out what you can afford and approve you for a certain amount on a loan. Then, it’s like having a check already written out – you just have to find the right dealership to make it payable to. Knowing your loan amount ahead of time will help you to only look at cars that are in your price range. You won’t waste time looking at $20,000 cars if you know in advance you can only afford a car under $10,000.

4. Should I trust the dealer?

You should visit several dealerships and narrow down your choices to around 3 cars. Inspecting the car is really smart to do when you’re visiting a used car dealership. Make sure you look at it thoroughly and don’t skip out on it! Print out this inspection list of things to look at on the car. Also, you can’t always trust that the seller is being completely honest about the condition of the car. A very helpful tool is CarFax.com. Just enter the car’s vehicle identification number and it will give you a complete history report – including any accidents, damage to the car and how many owners.

5. What is this car really worth?

Sellers usually want to get the most money they can from the sale of a car. So, it is very possible they may jack the price up way over its value. Don’t assume you’re getting a good deal. Find out for yourself what the car is really worth. The best way to do that is on Kelley Blue Book. Go to kbb.com and type in the car (year, make, and model) and the mileage. Then choose what condition the car is currently in and then you can find out what the vehicle is worth. You may be willing to go a couple hundred dollars over that Kelley Blue Book value, but you definitely don’t want to go thousands over. Owing more on a car than what it is worth is described as being “upside down” and makes selling the car in the future really hard to do.

Last but not least, don’t rush into buying yourself a new car. New vehicles are an extremely huge and important investment. Give yourself about 4 or 5 months to figure out which car is going to suit you best – you want to keep it for a long time! Although car shopping is exciting… take it slow so it doesn’t become frustrating. I wish you luck on your new car endeavors!

Could you? Should you?

Honestly, you can’t really study for any of these tests because each one contains several subjects with a thousand different topics! There are ways you can practice for them though! Practice tests are great to come by and are extremely useful to look at before taking the actual test. The format of the FCAT, ACT, and SAT are all different. Each one has a different way to bubble an answer or a different way to write out a response. When you take a practice test you’re able to familiarize yourself with how questions will be set up and you might even retain a little bit of information along the way!

While you are actually required to take the FCAT, you have a choice to take the ACT & SAT. The FCAT determines whether you graduate high school or not whereas the ACT & SAT help you tremendously on getting into the exact college you want to attend. There is a loophole though… if you fail the FCAT but get a score of 15 on the ACT and a score of at least 940 on your SAT, then the FCAT requirement is waived!

Start early

Coming from me, I say if you are a sophomore, start taking both the ACT and the SAT. I regret just now taking it as a junior in high school. Scores you should aim for are a 20 on the ACT and a 1500 on the SAT. Taking it as a sophomore would give you a good idea early on of what to expect on the test. Not only would you become familiar with test forms and how to answer both tests correctly, but you also would have plenty of time to retake the test (and could eventually make your way up to near perfect scores!).  Although both tests cost around $50, it’s important to invest in each of them. Some colleges won’t even accept you if you don’t take both of them. If you can’t afford to take both tests more than once and must wait until your senior year to take the actual tests, there are practice tests available for free. Taking a practice might help you figure out which test format you score better with.

CLICK HERE for the ACT practice test.

CLICK HERE for the SAT practice test.

Take advantage of those links and make sure you’re fully prepared!

What’s the difference?

You might be wondering why you have to take two of the same tests.  They actually aren’t the same! Some of the things the ACT tests on, the SAT does not. Science reasoning, trigonometry, and english grammar are all on the ACT but do not show up on the SAT. The SAT tests more on vocabulary and isn’t entirely multiple choice. One major difference between the tests is that the SAT has a guessing penalty and the ACT does not. That means if you aren’t entirely sure of an answer while taking the SAT… don’t even answer it, skip over it entirely!

The last and final tip I have for all you smart teens out there is to get some rest and take a snack to the testing site. Nothing’s worse than to feel prepared for the test, but get distracted by how tired or hungry you are!

Good luck!

Let’s just say you want to try out for your school’s soccer team… You have no background in the sport and you are a little fickle about it. GO FOR IT! If you don’t try out you will always wonder “what if I did?” You could be missing out on a really great experience and you might end up being really good at the sport.  Even if you took a chance, tried out for the team, and didn’t make it, at least you tried and that is something to be proud of.

I actually got this awesome job as the RT4T Spokesperson by my dad pushing me out of my comfort zone and making me try out for the position! I had known about it, but never in a million years did I think that I was going to get the job. I wasn’t even going to try out but my dad made me believe in myself… So I tried out, and look where it got me! I work for a great company and I meet new teens every day. If I would have never applied, I would have completely missed out.

So go ahead and and look for new adventures to try.  You’ll never know what the result will be if you don’t try it!

So if you’re stuck on ideas or if you’re just not a creative thinker at all… Consider me your wingman!.. Er… Wingwoman.

Ideas

• Send pizza to your girlfriend’s house with the word PROM? written in pepperonis or green peppers. Pretty “cheesy” I must admit, but I guarantee you she will say yes (and not on an empty stomach :P).
• Get four of your bros in on your plan!  Have them put on white shirts that spell out the word PROM. Write the letter P on one shirt, R on one shirt, O on one shirt, and M on one shirt. On your own white shirt write a question mark.  Have your friends stand in front of her doorway (in order so it spells PROM) and then come from behind them with your “?”  once she answers the door.  (Having some roses to give her wouldn’t hurt!) Maybe if your friends are up for it you can sing and dance to “The Prom Song” by The Prom Song Singers!
• Fill her locker, car, or room up with balloons that all say “Pop me for a special message.” Put a piece of paper in only one balloon that says “Will you go to prom with me?”
• While she’s at work, buy some glow in the dark stars and ask her parents if you can go into her room to spell “PROM?” with the stars on her ceiling! Seriously so cute and she will definitely dream of you!
• Grab some fortune cookies the next time you eat Chinese and carefully remove the message that is already inside and replace it with your own, something like “You will soon be going to prom with (your name).”  And for her lucky numbers, write your phone number on the back!  This idea might be a little difficult, but it’s definitely not impossible!
• When your girlfriend is sleeping or when she is away from her house, grab some sticky notes. Write “Will you go to prom with me?” on a BUNCH of them and put them all over her window on the outside. (Make sure you write it on the sticky side since she won’t be able to see the outside of them.) Text her and say “When you wake up, look out your window (:” It’s a great surprise! If she doesn’t have a window to get to, sticky note her car! Again, write the message on all the sticky notes and plaster them all over her car! She might be mad when she sees it from far away, but when she gets up close to read the messages, she will have to forgive you and say yes!
• If you’re feeling extra romantic, get two bags of tea light candles and spell  the word “PROM?” with them on her driveway. Light them all up and then call her to come outside! Really thoughtful and precious. (Make sure you do this at night.)

For prom this year, do NOT take the easy road and decide on just a drab “Hey… go to prom with me?” Part of the experience is how you ask!  Use one of these ideas, or come up with your own, and you’re sure to have a night to remember!

It’s seriously one of the best games I have downloaded on my phone yet. One of my friends actually told me to get it. I was reluctant at first because I don’t really play games on my phone, but once I had it… I was hooked. Soon I was texting all of my friends to get the game and some of them already had it downloaded!

Now that I’ve told you all these great things about the app, I should probably tell you what it’s about and what you do on it, huh? WELL once you get all set up and create a game with one of your friends you can watch them doodle and erase and doodle again and try to figure out what in the world they are drawing! At first it’s awkward to draw on a touchscreen and your drawings end up looking worse than a kindergartener’s. It’s almost like the board game Pictureka, but instead of advancing spaces or getting points, you gain coins! Coins help you to buy color packages (as of now I own the ice cream package, the spring package, and the mardi gras package) or bombs. Color packages help you to better draw out the scenario of the word you are describing.  It gives you variety even if you aren’t the best of artists, like myself. Bombs help you to narrow down letters when you get stuck on a picture and it also lets you choose other words to describe if you don’t like the ones they have given you already.     

There’s only 2 small downsides to the game.  1. If you are using the free version of the app and have multiple matchs going on with several friends, you will soon start to see repeat words.  You might get the word “macbook” with one friend and then again with another.  That takes some of the fun out of it. 2.There are ads that pop up in between games on the free version. But there is a $0.99 version that might be worth it if ads make you impatient. Being the stingy and money-saving person I am, I think I’ll stick to the free one. (:

So get to downloading and draw away, who knows?! You might become the next Picasso.

Most of us, whether we’re basketball fans or not, have heard the term March Madness.  It’s a time when college basketball fans seem to start coming out the wazoo everywhere you go!  A time when people are glued to their TV for hours on end.  And a very emotional time on top of that.  People take their sports tournaments very seriously, especially if they have been a devoted fan for such a long time.  I was reading online the other day that a ton of people call in sick to work during March Madness so they can stay home and watch their team play. Or if they do go to work, they spend more time watching the games on their computer or phone than getting actual work done.  What?! All that for a basketball game?!

Thankfully, no one in my family is that crazy into the games. Don’t get me wrong, my dad enjoys watching hoops from the couch every now and then, and occasionally he feels the rush when the team he is rooting for pulls out a win in the last half second of the game.  It’s exciting, it’s madness!  Who doesn’t love the camaraderie of it all?

Sweet Sixteen

Tomorrow actually starts something pretty special, the Sweet Sixteen semi-final games.  I personally don’t have a team I follow year round, but I am pretty partial to my local Florida teams.  I was a little upset to see USF and FSU knocked out of the running already.  I had high hopes that they’d make it a little further, but UF is still in it though which is pretty great.  I have a ton of friends doing the “chomp” as the Gators make it closer and closer to that National Championship title. Several of my friends are actually cheering for out-of-state teams who have a good shot at making it to the Final Four.  But no matter if your team wins or loses, the moral of the story is… don’t let the “madness” take away from the joy of the game!  Just relax, sit back with some grub, and enjoy the talent that may one day be in the NBA!

And for those of you think college basketball is the greatest thing since sliced bread, who do YOU think will be in the Final Four?!