Abigail Stackle ’20 (Immaculata House)

Abigail Stackle ‘20 is one of ten national winners of the Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF)’s Payback Challenge Essay Contest! NGPF is a non-profit which works to provide students with financial literacy skills needed for an increasingly complex financial world. One of their tools is a game–The Payback Challenge. This interactive, web-based game puts players through a series of decisions designed to mimic the real-life tug of war of competing desires: new or used books, private or public college? Students make virtual choices about what decisions they will make and what the cost will be for their future selves. 

Abigail, or Abby as she’s called, completed the Payback Challenge along with her peers in Mrs. Elaine Scholz’s Personal Finance class. Mrs. Scholz chose to use the game in her “Paying for College” unit with the student loan debt crisis in mind: “I wanted my students to personally see how their decisions have a direct impact on their future college debt.  Payback was the tool to help deliver the message to my students.” 

Based on their feedback, she guessed that students found the experience of playing the game useful. The class followed up their experience with “valuable dialogue regarding their future college decisions and fears,” said Mrs. Scholz. Abby confirmed the insight the game gave her: “Personally, the game highlighted many costs I had not considered when I was planning for college, as well as demonstrated some realistic strategies for reducing the cost, such as having roommates and buying books second hand.” 

As a whole, Abby says, the Personal Finance class has made her “more confident about going out on my own next year. Money always seemed fairly complex when I got into the details of it, but this class has broken it down so managing my own finances is entirely possible.” This newfound confidence is exactly what Mrs. Scholz finds so rewarding about teaching the class: ”witnessing the students taking careful thought on planning their financial future by setting financial goals and developing the steps they need to take to meet their goals.”

Abby must be getting the hang of it, because her essay to her future self–a college freshman–on keeping her debt manageable while still pursuing her dreams, came in the top ten out of more than 900 entries nationally, and is the one winner Pennsylvania has had in the contest’s three years of operation. In her essay, Abby reminded herself of strategies she learned while in class at Trinity: get a job to help manage costs, use a reliable banking app to avoid low balance fees, and set a realistic budget. Abby said she was “thrilled” to find out she had won the competition and a $5,000 scholarship along with it. She says, “the timing was perfect! I actually found out right after applying for a few other scholarships.”

Abby plans to use this financial literacy foundation she’s built to attend college and pursue a major in International Business. Congratulations to Abby and to the rest of her class, who will be able to use the skills they have learned to make informed decisions, create financially secure lives, and build the next generation of financially capable leaders.

Play the Payback Challenge yourself, here.

Katie Dominguez ’20 (Immaculata House)

Katie Dominguez takes service seriously. She is one of four school leaders to focus on providing service opportunities to Trinity students. Recently she organized “Sleep Out for the Homeless,” an event that raised funds and awareness for the experiences of 2 million homeless youth in America. Katie described this reality as “heartbreaking,” and was motivated both to educate her peers and join the national Sleep-Out America movement.

To achieve this, Katie advertised the event to the senior class by regularly visiting mentor groups to talk about the event and distributing information and registration papers to those interested. Katie also planned activities to keep everyone engaged. She secured a guest speaker, Robert Mott ’13, an employee at the Valley Youth House in Dauphin County, who was able to provide information and personal stories to Trinity participants about the homeless youth he works with every day. This “really drove home the significance of the sleep-out,” Katie said. They learned more about the homeless experience by watching a film.

The group raised $300 to support homeless youth through a registration fee, but they also worked on holiday gift bags for the homeless young people currently at the Valley Youth House. This activity allowed education and empathy to be turned into beneficial action. The group also acted by living a small part of the homeless experience themselves. After 10:00 p.m., more than a dozen participants huddled together in their cardboard boxes and tried their best to make it through the twenty degree night. Katie described the experience of sleeping outside in November as “challenging,” but that ultimately they “came out of it stronger and more understanding of the plight of others.”

In the morning students enjoyed a hot breakfast; Katie had coordinated with the Lower Allen Diner to set up a warm breakfast for everyone. In the end, Katie and the other students recognized that their experience was temporary: “though sleeping outside demonstrated the reality for many teens, we bundled up in layers, ate a hot breakfast, and were able to return to a warm house, while homeless youth do not have that luxury. I can only imagine how challenging it would be to sleep outside every night.”

Thanks to Katie for her careful planning of this 12-hour event, Mrs. Jo Reider and Mrs. Judi Fejfar for their help in organizing the event, Sister Susan Kuk and Mr. Jose Dominguez for chaperoning, and Mr. Robert Mott ’13 for speaking!

Alumna Update: Catherine Campbell ’08

Catherine Campbell ‘08 recently achieved what she calls the “pinnacle of her running career”–a sub 2:45 marathon, a personal record that happens to qualify her for the Olympic Marathon Trials. 

Catherine met this goal while running in the 2020 Chevron Houston Marathon, her 10th marathon and her second real attempt at an Olympic Trials qualifying time. When Catherine ran her first marathon in 2015, her only goal was qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which she ran in April 2016. It wasn’t until January of 2018 that she set her sights on running a 3 hour marathon. After a couple of failed attempts, she broke her former PR by twelve minutes running 2:52:24, and decided she had nothing to lose by giving the Olympic Trials qualifying standard a real attempt. 

Catherine trained over the summer and fall of 2019 by running 90 miles a week in the North Carolina heat and humidity. Her first attempt at qualifying was at the California International Marathon, but she was plagued by electrolyte issues at mile 19. She decided to try again, this time working on a nutrition plan, for the Houston Marathon, which was scheduled on the absolute last day an individual could qualify for the trials. From her first marathon in 2015 to her most recent, her time has dropped from 3:17 to 2:43. The U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Atlanta, GA on February 29 will be her 11th marathon, and her 5th in the past 12 months.

Qualifying to run with the nation’s fastest runners is certainly impressive, but not completely surprising to those who knew Catherine as a high schooler. At Trinity, Catherine was driven in academics and involved in all things running–cross country, indoor track, and track and field. Under the tutelage of Coach Turpin (Cross Country and Track and Field coach) and Coach John Oszustowicz (Trinity’s indoor track coach), Catherine developed her passion for the sport. Coach O has played a significant role for her both by believing in her and providing an “incredible example of someone very passionate for the sport of running.” Catherine even ran alongside Coach O during one of his many JFK 50-milers. “Coach O continues to support me, and we enjoy sharing with each other our passion for running,” Catherine said. 

As she continued to excel in running at Trinity, she started to see herself competing as a collegiate student-athlete. She attended Dickinson College, where she matured into a top Division III athlete and NCAA All-American after her third-place finish in the 5000 meter at the 2012 Indoor Track and Field National Championship. She has continued running for various clubs, which have helped her meet her goals and pursue dreams like qualifying for the Olympic Trials. 

Catherine has accomplished this truly impressive running career while completing doctoral work at two top-tier institutions: Penn Dental Medicine, where she graduated with honors in both clinical dentistry and community health, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she studied orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. Catherine was attracted to the field of dentistry, and later orthodontics, because it is a profession that offers the chance to play a critical role in improving the self-confidence and oral hygiene of patients, while also allowing for autonomy through business ownership and the chance for a more balanced lifestyle.  

Catherine will graduate from UNC this spring, and will marry her college sweetheart, Arthur Worthington, in June. Afterward, they plan to settle in Maryland. She will run in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Atlanta, GA on February 29.