Out of 2,000 Personal Finance teachers in Oregon, THS’s own Sue Suttich received the Educator of the Year award. Financial Beginning’s volunteers vote for the award . They spent time observing teachers in their classrooms all across the state in order to choose their recipient. Turns out the winner of this year’s award is located down the hall, in room 408.   

This is the second year that Suttich has won this award. “It’s super exciting. It validates that what I’m teaching is important and it’s something that students need to know and learn,” Suttich said.

Financial Beginnings is a non profit organization that puts financial education into the hands of Oregon students. One way they do so is by sending volunteers in from insurance companies or the banking industry to go and talk to students about insurance, banking and jobs.   

Hallie O’Connor, a former student of Suttich’s Personal Finance class, felt like the class was important. “I liked how personal finance prepared me for dealing with money and how it taught me about college, scholarships, and ways to save money. It’s not something you learn in other classes, and I think it’s really important information to have,” O’Connor said.

Hailey Dwyer, now a junior, took Personal Finance as a freshman. “A lot of people say to take it your junior year so you remember the information when you’re older, but I’m thankful I took it as a freshman because I’m using the skills now,” Dwyer said.  

But if there’s one thing that Suttich wants to teach all students, it would be to responsibly manage their money and savings. “I want students to be financially literate and responsible by learning basic good habits such as budgeting and saving for retirement. If you just start today with a little, it’s going to end up being a lot,” Suttich said.

This year will mark Suttich’s 21st year teaching at Tigard High. So from the student body of Tigard, we congratulate Sue Suttich on her Educator of the Year award and how she’s made an impact on us and others in one way or another.