Four Indiana Wesleyan University students have begun their work as financial peer coaches for the newly opened NEXUS Financial Discipleship Center at IWU. The Center is managed by The Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning, a wholly owned subsidiary of IWU, and seeks to be a discipleship ministry of trained student coaches aiding students and the community with financial decision making.
The four coaches participated in training from Aug. 29-Sept. 2, and officially stepped into their roles on Sept. 6. They have three primary responsibilities: leading one-on-one student coaching sessions, giving group presentations on campus and conducting research to build upon their existing database of tools and resources.
Coaches are well versed in a variety of topics, including financial goal development, budgeting, credit, investing, managing debt, and student loan planning and repayments. Each coach also has previous financial training and maintains at least a 3.0 GPA.
“Each of our coaches has shown a strong desire to fulfill this premise of discipleship, specifically as it relates to encouraging, equipping and challenging others to think differently about money,” said Dr. Justin Henegar, director of Research and Scholarship for the Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning at IWU. “I am so excited to see not only the outcomes of those that seek out NEXUS as a resource, but also the individual growth that each one of our coaches will experience in this process.”
Peer coaches for NEXUS Financial Discipleship Center:
- Griffin Horne, senior studying finance and business administration
- Maggie Holderman, junior studying social work
- Kyle Barry, junior studying business administration and finance with a minor in psychology
- Trent Blaser, senior studying finance with a minor in business administration
“My prayer is that our coaches will begin to change the culture as it relates to our perspective of money by guiding students to the fact that God owns it all,” said Henegar.