Shady Side Academy senior advocates for nationwide youth financial literacy
Laurence Park grew up in Los Angeles and never thought he’d end up living in Pittsburgh.
But when his father was hired as a financial professor at The University of Pittsburgh in 2022, Park traded West Coast living for the hills of Western Pennsylvania.
“It’s very different but there’s a lot of merit to it. The natural environment is nice and the biggest thing is the people — they’re super friendly,” he said.
Park brought his keen interest and passion of youth personal finance with him.
When most sixth-graders were playing video games or goofing off, Park discovered a game called Investopedia Stock Market Simulator, on a financial website that provides users virtual money to practice trading without any real risk.
“I started learning more about different financial concepts and there’s a financial crisis in our country. I want to help students to build a better financial future for themselves,” Park said.
At 15, he enrolled in Shady Side Academy as an eighth-grader and ramped up his advocacy for youth financial education by penning his first book, “Investing For Teens.”
At 17, Park founded his financial-themed nonprofit Everest, with a goal of educating and promoting financial literacy to students.
The nonprofit, which has never received any monetary donations per Park, serves to equip underserved teens with essential personal finance skills.
Park was inspired to create Everest because a friend’s family struggled due to a lack of early financial education.
To date, Park estimates he’s helped more than 1,100 students hone their personal financial skills through free nationwide workshops, hosted both digitally and in-person, in Pennsylvania, California, Ohio and upstate New York.
Park has hosted more than 50 free workshops for students enrolled in middle or high school, mostly in districts that are underserved.
Pittsburgh area schools that have welcomed Park include the communities of McKeesport and Wilkinsburg.
“It’s rewarding to me that my passion for finance has developed into a interest for others,” Park said.
Promoting real financial results
Park’s specialized workshop, “Starting Line,” is available to minor children and a guardian working together to begin a custodial guardian account (no earned income needed) or a custodial Roth IRA for kids that earn income.
“The point of ‘Starting Line’ is to guide them through the steps of creating a custodial guardian account and the feedback from the workshops is that most people are surprised that finances can be handled at a younger age,” Park said.
Everest offers a free newsletter, The Base Camp Brief, which is AI-powered and provides brief summaries of global financial news that is made easier-to-understand for the average teen, Park explained.
“We have over 900 teens and young adults receiving this newsletter and I won an honorable mention in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2025 Innovator Contest. In essence, the Base Camp Brief newsletter helps teen easily stay up-to-date with real world financial events,” he said.
A YouTube Crash Course Video Series by Park is used in more than 200 classrooms and has been viewed by more than 3,000 students.
This course brings core financial concepts to life.
There are 21 Everest chapters across the U.S. , made possible by Park’s connections to Southern California and the Pittsburgh region.
Park is currently advocating for the creation of a Youth Financial Education Advisory Board with the news of Pennsylvania requiring a required personal finance curriculum (PA Act 35, effective in 2026).
The Everest website has a link to advocate for the formation of a Youth Financial Education Council.
“It’s vital that new curricula accurately reflect the thoughts of students and this advisory board could be a fantastic way to do so. I’ve contacted some state senators and representatives offices,” Park said.
Park said it’s never to early to learn about finances.
“For stocks and saving, it’s start as early as you can. Now is better than never. The mental thing is to not be fearful of managing as a task, but as an opportunity to grow your money and chase your goals. It’s more exciting to think about it that way,” Park said.
Park said his Shady Side education provides academic satisfaction with his two favorite subjects — linguistics and economics. He serves as a board member on the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.
Park hopes to be a successful entrepreneur and be his own boss and plans to attend a top-ranked university on the east or West Coast — he’s still deciding.
Park discovered actually getting his book on library shelves proved to be a major lesson in patience.
“It’s been incredible because it can be difficult was getting people to come to the workshops and get the libraries to stock my book,” said Park, who emailed more than 500 libraries requesting shelf time at each library.
“Investing For Teens” is now available in public libraries in 24 states.
Park is bilingual in English and Korean and lives in O’Hara, the only child of Luna and Jay Park.
Luna Park said watching her son develop real-life skills while advocating for youth financial awareness has provided him with added maturity and responsibility.
“He learned how to implement to make the workshops happen and he’s a self-starter. His plan was really small in the beginning, but it’s grown. He’s been brave and independent throughout this whole process. It was amazing that he decided to reach out to high schools to do the workshops. I can see he learned patience and how to interact with adults,” Luna Park. “He really developed his leadership skills.”
Laurence’s non-financial hobbies include listening to music, hanging out with friends, serving as president of the Computational Linguistics Olympiad Club at Shady Side Academy, participating as co-president of SSA’s Speech and Debate Club, serving as a board member on the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and making Japanese Gundam models. Park hopes to be a successful entrepreneur and be his own boss and plans to attend a top-ranked university on the east or west coast.
To learn more about Everest or to request a workshop, visit nextgenfin.org.
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com
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