Rankings are announced for the Mauch Chunk Trust Company sponsored team in the Pennsylvania Council of Financial Literacy competition.

The schools invited to participate are Jim Thorpe Area, Lehighton Area, Palmerton Area, Panther Valley, Weatherly Area and Tamaqua Area. The schools, advisers and portfolio are:

Elementary/middle school level 1. Panther Valley, adviser Pam Brubaker, $129,488. 2. Palmerton Area - William Zeky, $117,601.73. 3. Weatherly Area - Katie Leach, $105,552.32.

High school 1. Weatherly Area, Brian Kaminski, $104,362.55. 2. Lehighton Area, Veronica Scarpati, $100,005.62 3. Panther Valley. Pauline Romanowksi , $100,000.

Personal Budgeting Game Overall Score 1. Lehighton Area, Veronica Scarpati , $57,638. 2. Weatherly Area - Katie Leach , $11,362. 3. Palmerton Area - William Zeky, $4,309. The challenge is free for schools to participate and includes both a personal budgeting game and an investing challenge.

The budget game simulates the experience of students living on their own while managing their bills, credit cards and finances. The game plays out 18 months but takes about 6-hours real time to complete.

The investing challenge offers students the opportunity to manage a hypothetical $100,000 portfolio by investing in stocks chosen from the American, New York and NASDAQ exchanges with live market data.

The competitions teach students budgeting, investing and other financial literacy skills through hands-on learning activities in the classroom.

The challenge ends April 19.