Seniors at Athens’ three public high schools are starting the year with a unique lesson in financial literacy — and $1,000 investment portfolios to manage, thanks to an anonymous donor.
More than 800 12th-grade students at Cedar Shoals, Clarke Central, and Classic City high schools received the portfolios through the nonprofit Gifted Savings. Over the next year, they will study stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit, and even bitcoin, tracking the real-time performance of their investments.
“One thousand dollars changes somebody’s life if given at the right time and place,” Gifted Savings founder Farhad Mohit told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This is my way of addressing income disparity in this country. Money goes directly to the students.”
Mohit, a successful tech entrepreneur who founded Bizrate.com, Shopzilla, and Flipagram, launched Gifted Savings’ first districtwide program in Clarke County after a pilot at a Los Angeles charter school. To keep their portfolios, students must complete 20 financial literacy modules, remain enrolled for the entire school year, and turn 18 before graduation.
Clarke Central High graduate Logan Smalley, now executive director of TED-Ed, encouraged the nonprofit to focus on Athens because of its multigenerational poverty. His brother, Ben Smalley, the district’s social studies director, coordinated the program’s rollout with high school staff.
“By giving our seniors real investment portfolios and the tools to grow them, we’re not just teaching financial literacy — we’re building confidence, ownership, and long-term opportunity,” said Interim CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Scott.
Students learned about their surprise gift during assemblies on Aug. 7. Along with their portfolios, they received personal accounts on the Gifted Savings app, which provides weekly lessons on saving, investing, and using money with purpose. Seniors will spend 15 minutes each week in advisement working through the lessons, and upon completing the program and turning 18, they will assume full control of their portfolios and can invest or cash out as they choose.
Through a partnership with TED-Ed, seniors will share what they have learned during a special TEDx event at the end of the school year.
“A teacher asked me, ‘Why Athens,’ and the answer is simple,” said Josh Landay, executive director of Gifted Savings. “We believed we could make a real generational impact here, and the community has shown the drive and heart to make it possible. Athens is a place where people come together to do big things, and it can serve as a shining example for the rest of the country.”
The $1.2 million gift covers the first year of student portfolios and includes a match for the second year. The AJC reports the first-year cost is $814,000, with a long-term goal of creating a $16 million endowment to sustain the program permanently. University of Georgia researchers will study the program’s impact over the next four years to see how it influences students, families, and the Athens community.
Athens Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Bradley called the initiative “the real deal” and said it will give students “light in their future.” The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Athens Area Community Foundation, and other local leaders have pledged to raise the remaining funds needed to keep Gifted Savings in Clarke County through at least 2030.
