The Aliyah Boston Foundation ignited young minds at the electrifying Pathway to Purpose Youth Finance Summit, Saturday, Nov. 8, at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
With 100 students registered and a buzzing waitlist of 5-6 eager participants stepping in when spots opened, 87 unstoppable teens showed up and owned the day.
Picture this: 87 fired-up students divided into dynamic groups of 20-25, diving into a round-robin adventure of financial mastery—Budgeting, Credit Scores, Investing, and the heart-pounding Virgin Islands’ Ventures simulated town! In VI Ventures, students stormed the streets of a fully immersive world, hitting up Keswick Insurance, Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority, AB’s Snack Shack, Merchants Commercial Bank, Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, Virgin Islands Department of Labor, Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue and Virgin Islands Ventures – Human Resources. For a full hour, they split roles: half the time as employees hustling through real-life missions—applying for loans at Merchant’s Bank, paying taxes at the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Review with a check, building resumes at the Department of Labor, or securing coverage at Keswick Insurance, Reading the Meter at Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, et cetera —and the other half as business operators, calling the shots and serving up solutions.
Grab-and-go lunch and snacks kept the momentum blazing all day.
In the Budgeting Blitz, facilitators unleashed pro-level tips, then students flexed their skills! Assigned salaries tied to their chosen careers, they built budgets with high-stakes choices: rent or buy a home (and how big?), lease, buy, or skip the car for public transit, plus decisions on dining out, health insurance, lifestyle, and giving back. Every call shaped their empire!
The Investing Ignition session set the room on fire—students mastered stocks, bonds, ETFs, and the art of spotting winners. In teams of 5, they clutched $1,000 in Boston Bucks and invested. Five years of wild, unplanned market twists—scenarios that sent portfolios skyrocketing or plunging—revealed how their money exploded over time!
In the Credit Score Showdown, students unlocked the secret sauce of credit scores and their life-altering power. They watched interest rates flip-flop on identical loans based on good vs. bad credit, then battled in personalized Credit Score Jenga—each block a choice that boosted or busted their score!
The crowd went wild for the unfiltered Q&A showdown moderated by Deniece Turnbull, where Aliyah Boston took the stage! Students fired off real-talk questions about savings, resisting peer pressure, balancing a pro-athlete schedule, smart decision-making, investing, and spending wisely. Aliyah dropped gems straight from her journey, proving financial power is built one disciplined choice at a time.
This summit was rocket fuel for generational wealth, powered by Aliyah Boston’s fearless vision: the earlier you start, the more your money grows. Success isn’t flashy cars, designer labels, or blowing cash—it’s fiscal responsibility, knowing it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you KEEP. Every student walked away with motivational cards packed with positive affirmations for smart money moves and a reminder: when God blesses us, we’re called to bless others.
The grand slam? The Aliyah Boston Foundation is launching every participant’s future by opening an investment account for each of the 87 students and funding their first Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) purchase!
Massive gratitude to our sponsors—International Private Bank and International Capital and Management (The Stephenson Family), Keswick Insurance, Parach Resource Management, University of the Virgin Islands, Merchants Commerical Bank, Perfected Claims, West Indies Company, Customs Builders, Color Max, MC + MC Design Group, Cost U Less for fresh fruits and snacks and Subway for epic cookies. Every partner helped fueled the fire. The Pathway to Purpose Youth Finance Summit wasn’t just an event—it was a revolution.
