A group of Collinsville High School students will be competing as one of the top 10 teams in the state Friday at the Illinois Personal Finance Challenge in Chicago.

The Collinsville High SChool Illinois Personal Finance Challenge team that qualified for the state tournament. Left to right: Sam Wilson, Kushan Patel, Thomas Campbell and Felix Kocher

The team advanced to the State Championship Round as the top scoring team in Region 5, which encompasses nearly all of Illinois south of Springfield. CHS has competed in the statewide challenge three years, and has qualified for the state competition each of those years, group coach and CHS teacher Vicky Fuhrhop said.

Teams qualify by taking a test about consumer education/personal finance. Each team member has 35 minutes to complete the 30-question exam. The top three scores on the four-person team are combined for the qualifying score.

Representing Collinsville will be Sam Wilson, Thomas Campbell, Kushan Patel and Felix Kocher. Each spent many weeks studying for the qualifying and state contests, doing much of the work on their own, working around their other activities. Fuhrhop does not currently have any of the students in class.

“That’s what makes the four students unique,” Fuhrhop said. “They spend a lot of time working on their own.”

Wilson will attend Quincy University in the fall on a scholarship. He will be the long snapper on the football team and study accounting and finance.

“He is just a very nice young man,” Fuhrhop said. “He has a great personality and is a hard worker. Everybody likes Sam.”

Campbell will study biochemistry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale this fall. He would like to be a family doctor, Fuhrhop said. Campbell was also part of the CHS team that recently won second place at a Model United Nations competition.

“He is very well respected among not only faculty and staff, but his peers,” Fuhrhop said.

Patel will attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s dental school this fall. He was on a CHS science club team that qualified for the State Science Olympiad this spring.

“Like all four of these young men, he is so polite and hard working,” Fuhrhop said.

The team also boasts a German exchange student, Kocher, who plans to attend business school after he completes high school in his native country. Kocher was also part of the CHS team that recently won second place at a Model United Nations competition.

“He is just eager to learn anything he can,” Fuhrhop said.

The four were handpicked to be on the team by Fuhrhop, who consults with finance teacher Mark Schusky before making her selections.

“When I look for the pool of kids, I look for students who are really willing to work,” Fuhrhop said. “They are true representations of what we at CHS call ‘the high school of champions.'”

If the group of four become state champions Friday, they will compete at the National Personal Finance Challenge competition in St Louis.