Former Pirate Alec Ingold returns to Bay Port

HOWARD/SUAMICO – Former Bay Port Pirate and UW-Madison Badger Alec Ingold returned to Bay Port High School on Wednesday, April 8, to host a finanical literacy ‘money camp’ amid the NFL offseason.

“Education has always been very important to me growing up with my mom being a school teacher and obviously all the great teachers in my life. I think it was definitely important to get my degree and graduate a little early with my financial degree. Also, just having the perspective to learn and grow and develop beyond school and to be one of those lifelong learners is important. This is something that I’ve felt inspired to do and a path that I’m really glad I found,” said Ingold.

Ingold is one of the few NFL players to have secured his finance degree prior to entering the NFL by graduting from UW-Madison in 2018, just months before signing with the Oakland Raiders.

The money camp is part of Ingold’s initiative to impart financial wisdom and provide educational support for young student athletes.

“One of my favorite parts of sharing this perspective is seeing money as a resource, similar to your time, your effort, your energy. Those are all different resources that you have to budget for and that you have to prioritize. All these healthy habits that you have to learn through financial literacy, we also get to learn in athletics and in school. Those principles carry over to all pieces of your life. Being able to share that with younger students and student athletes is something I wish I would have learned earlier. I just want to continue to do right and have those intentions and hopefully they’ll be better off for it,” said Ingold.

The Ingold Family Foundation also hosted a camp at Ingold’s collegiate alama mater — UW-Madison — on Friday, April 10.

“I think it’s going to be great to go back to back between Madison and Bay Port,” said Ingold of his excitement for the camps that hold a lot of personal connections for him. “Being able to give back to the community that’s important to you is rewarding and I think that reciprocating that relationship is always very important. I like to just give thanks to the areas and communities that I’ve grown up in. To be able to continue to pour back into those communities because there’s so many special people — adults, mentors, leaders, as well as a lot of talent in student athletes, with a heck of a lot of potential. Being able to be a part of these communities long term is definitely something I value.”

According to Ingold, the main focus of these camps is to impart financial knowledge and support for those who are preparing to balance real-world resposnsibilites while applying some of the life lessons they have learned thorugh their dedicaiton as athletes.

The Ingold Family Foundation states that their mission is to, “empower underserved youth through accessible and impactful learning experiences. [They] focus on financial, mental and physical health, inspired by the lessons learned in sports.”

Though the camps feature speakers and resources provided in collaboration with Nicolet National Bank, Ingold said he enjoys imparting his own knowledge and experience from lessons he has learned as he has navigated his career in the NFL.

“Some of the toughest times I’ve had while playing the game is when I put all my eggs in one basket. I put everything into football and I wasn’t really diversifying my portfolio, so to speak, using ‘financial literacy’ terms. Being able to have a diverse skillset, being intentional and trying really hard in school, as well as in sports, as well as in friendships, as well as in family time. Those moments and when I was in that flow ended up breeding the best results and I think it’s really funny how you can translate that to a diversified portfolio in the stock market and making sure you don’t have all your eggs in one basket and have a number of them that you can trust and feel confident in. That’s one of the best lessons that I love — being able to go through this with the athlete-perspective and the student-perspective,” said Ingold.

Though the Ingold Family Foundation hosts several of these money camps throughout the offseason, Ingold said that each one is unique and provides student-athletes with a variety of opportunites to learn something that will benefit them.

“We’ve got a couple cool tracks for the kids depending on what age they’re at and what interest levels they have. The root fundamentals financial literacy wise are all about online banking, risk management, making sure you’re protecting your information online security-wise, budgeting needs and wants — some of those financial basics. There are some very cool career panels in collaboration with Nicolet National Bank and some great educators and leaders at Howard-Suamico and some other community leaders that are stepping up to the plate to help serve in our community. Between all of that and some life skills being able to work on communication, and any soft skill that you need as a human being to find the best version of yourself in this professional landscape, we try to get as well. We try to hit all of those phases. The kids can get excited and get to compete a little bit and have some fun learning about money and life in general,” said Inglold about the itinerary for the event.

“I’m excited to bring some juice. I’m looking forward to bringing some vibes and good energy and bringing some excitement around so it’s not just another day. That’s a really cool part of it, being able to share my story and my perspectives and to connect with the kids while we’re there. It’s always about having those personal connections. We live in a world where it’s always going to be people-business and getting to know people and foster those relationships is going to be really important. I’m going to try to bring something new and unique and fun back to school when they are coming back from spring break,” said Ingold.

While the camps are primarily focused on imparting his knowledge and resources to the students, Ingold said he also gets excited on a personal level whenever he gets the opportunity to return to a place that shaped so much of his life atheltically, academically and socially.

“It’s cool to pop my head in there every once in a while. I’ll definitely go through all the hallways and try to say hi to as many people as I can, but there are countless names and faces and human beings thre who have impacted my life. It’s been a special journey and I’m glad to be back.”