Yarmouth, Maine, July 8, 2025 : North Yarmouth Academy (NYA) announces the launch of the Sheldon MINT Lab (Money Intelligence Now and for Tomorrow), a one-of-a-kind financial literacy program that will empower every 9-12 grade student with the knowledge and skills needed to make informed personal financial decisions. The new program is designed to immerse students in financial planning, including budgeting, saving, borrowing, investing, and taxation. The Sheldon MINT Lab will be an integral part of every student’s education in NYA’s Upper School, fostering research, critical thinking, debate, and problem-solving that are essential skills when analyzing financial choices and evaluating investment opportunities.

A unique component of the Sheldon MINT Lab is its focus on investment portfolio management. Beginning this fall, the class of 2029 will be the first to manage a forty thousand-dollar endowment portfolio from freshman through senior year with guidance from NYA faculty and investment professionals. Each graduating class will learn the basics of portfolio management and the financial power of compounding. Students will collectively make investment decisions throughout four years while managing risk and learning the art of rebalancing. As a performance incentive, if a class portfolio outperforms the school’s endowment portfolio during a semester, the class wins a special celebration determined by the faculty.

The Sheldon MINT Lab is the brainchild of NYA Trustee Valentine ’87 and Michelle Sheldon P’29, P’31 and funded by their generous gift to the NYA endowment. “No coach sends a kid onto the field without teaching them the rules of the game,” said Valentine. “Yet we send kids into the world of student loans, credit cards, and 401(k)’s without teaching how any of it works. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Many recent studies have found that young people lack basic financial literacy, and most do not feel financially well-prepared. In stark contrast however, a 2023 Champlain College report concluded that high school financial education has an overwhelmingly positive impact on students’ financial habits including budgeting, saving and avoiding predatory loans. Most importantly, these positive effects are measurable over a decade after graduation.

The Sheldon MINT Lab has a philanthropy dividend as well. At the conclusion of their senior year, each class will vote on how to direct any monetary gains in their class portfolio to select NYA academic programs, facility upgrades, or the school’s endowment.

“NYA is deeply grateful to the Sheldon family for their leadership and generosity,” said Ben Jackson, Head of School. “The Sheldon MINT Lab is an incredible addition to the Academy’s mission of delivering an academically rigorous and innovative education by meeting an important need for our students – financial literacy. This unique program will prepare them for lifelong success.”

North Yarmouth Academy is an independent, college preparatory, coeducational day and boarding school for over 400 toddlers to postgraduate students. NYA has fostered integrity, character, and intellect in its students since 1814.

For more information about NYA, go to NYA.org. For more information about the Sheldon MINT Lab at NYA, see www.nya.org/MINT.