From left: Angelos Perifanos, executive at the Hellenic Bank Association’s Banking Institute and Financial Literacy Center; Andreas Venios, teacher at Drimos General High School; competition winner Ourania Tetziridou; Sofia Ziakou, head of the Banking Institute and Financial Literacy Center; competition winner Sofia Maria Trivyza; and Georgios Boulakis, principal of Drimos General High School.
Two high school students from a small town near Thessaloniki in northern Greece have won Europe’s largest financial literacy competition, beating teams from 30 countries to claim first place at the European Money Quiz finals in Brussels earlier this week.
Sofia Maria Trivyza and Ourania Tetziridou, both in their first year of high school in the small town of Drimos in Oraiokastro, achieved a perfect score, correctly answering all 30 financial literacy questions in the fastest time of the competition.
The team from Latvia finished second, while Italy secured third place.
Speaking to Greek state broadcaster ERT, Tetziridou said their participation was almost accidental. “One day in class, Mr Venios had us do a quiz similar to the ones used in the competition, and afterward he told us that the competition actually existed and that anyone who wanted could take part. So we decided to join too. We thought, ‘Why not? We’ve got nothing to lose – let’s give it a try,’” she said, referring to a teacher at their high school, Andreas Venios.
