Earn 15 MCPS SSL Hours This Fall in the Millionaire's Club at Forest Oak and Neelsville
Enrollment closes September 23. If your child goes to Forest Oak or Neelsville Middle School and still needs Student Service Learning hours, that's the date that matters.
The D2D Millionaire's Club is a fall after-school program where students learn how credit works, build financial education tools for younger kids, and then teach those lessons in MCPS elementary schools. It awards 15 verified MCPS SSL hours for middle school students, and those hours count toward the 75 needed for a Maryland diploma.
Key Takeaways
The D2D Millionaire's Club awards 15 verified MCPS Student Service Learning hours: 5 for preparation, 6 for product creation, 2 for advocacy, and 2 for reflection.
MCPS requires 75 SSL hours to graduate, and SSL hours earned in middle school carry forward to the high school total.
A middle schooler who completes the three SSL courses built into MCPS middle school (10 hours each) plus the Millionaire's Club reaches high school with 45 of the 75 required hours.
The MCPS Student Service Learning office reviewed the Millionaire's Club in May 2026 and confirmed it meets the preparation, action, and reflection requirements and Maryland's Seven Best Practices of Service-Learning.
Millionaire's Club sessions start September 30 at Forest Oak and October 1 at Neelsville, and enrollment for both sites closes September 23, 2026.
How Many SSL Hours Does the Millionaire's Club Award?
Students who complete the Millionaire's Club earn 15 MCPS SSL hours. The hours break down into 5 hours of preparation, 6 hours building financial education products, 2 hours of advocacy, and 2 hours of structured reflection. Every hour is logged in D2D's digital tracking system and verified by a credentialed D2D staff member.
SSL component | Hours | What students do |
Preparation | 5 | Credit curriculum and a community needs analysis |
Product creation | 6 | Build Mini Money Books, decision-tree stories, and games |
Advocacy | 2 | Share tools through community platforms and QR codes in public spaces |
Reflection | 2 | Complete a reflection product for the completion portfolio |
Total | 15 |
Fifteen hours is one fifth of the 75-hour MCPS requirement, earned in a single fall semester.
The Millionaire's Club records every hour on the official MCPS Student Service Learning Activity Verification form. Students who finish also receive the D2D Ambassador designation and a completion portfolio with a verified hour log, work samples, their reflection product, and an official D2D Ambassador certificate.
How Do MCPS SSL Hours Work for Middle School Students?
MCPS students need 75 SSL hours to graduate and can start earning them the summer after Grade 5. Hours earned in middle school stay on the student's record and count toward the high school total. Every SSL experience has to include academic preparation, service action, and structured reflection, and has to be documented on MCPS Form 560-51.
Some of those hours come built into the curriculum. The Montgomery County Volunteer Center's SSL orientation guide lists 10 SSL hours each for Grade 6 Science, Grade 7 English, and Grade 8 Social Studies.
Here's the math on MCPS SSL hours for middle school students who join the Millionaire's Club:
Three middle school courses: 30 hours
Millionaire's Club: 15 hours
Total entering high school: 45 of 75
That leaves 30 hours to finish across four years of high school, instead of scrambling for them senior year.
A few MCPS rules shape how service-learning hours are counted. Per the MCPS SSL overview, students earn one SSL hour for each hour of service outside the instructional day, with a cap of 8 hours in any 24-hour period. Service must be supervised by an adult representing the organization, and a parent or relative can't sign off.
The Millionaire's Club schedule already fits those rules. Sessions run 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., after the school day ends, under D2D staff supervision.
Why Does the Millionaire's Club Qualify for SSL?
The Millionaire's Club qualifies because the MCPS Student Service Learning office reviewed the D2D proposal in May 2026 and confirmed it meets all three core SSL components and Maryland's Seven Best Practices of Service-Learning. The review also confirmed that the program involves students in all three recognized service types: direct, indirect, and advocacy.
That builds on D2D's earlier MCPS Student Service Learning approval, announced in August.
The Seven Best Practices come from the state's own Maryland Student Service-Learning Guidelines, and a program has to show all seven, not most of them.
Service type | What Millionaire's Club students do |
Direct service | Teach live FinancialField Trip® workshops to MCPS elementary students |
Indirect service | Create Mini Money Books, branching stories, and games for younger learners |
Advocacy service | Place their tools in public spaces through QR codes and community platforms |
What about the state law?
You may hear that a Maryland law makes financial literacy courses count for service hours. No such law is in effect.
SB 638, sponsored by Senators Brooks and Klausmeier in the 2024 session, would have required every county board to let an eligible financial literacy course count toward service hours starting in the 2025 to 2026 school year. SB 638 received a Senate committee hearing and was not enacted. The idea returned in 2025 as SB 715 and its House cross-file, HB 326, and those bills stalled in committee too.
So the Millionaire's Club counts in Montgomery County because MCPS approved this specific program. Families outside MCPS should check with their own district's SSL office, since SSL is administered county by county.
What Do Students Do in the Millionaire's Club?
The Millionaire's Club runs in three phases: students learn credit, build teaching tools, and then teach younger kids. It's D2D's credit-first financial literacy program for middle schoolers in Montgomery County, built on the idea that credit shapes access to housing, cars, and jobs long before a budget does.
Phase 1: Learn
Millionaire's Club students work through D2D's core credit curriculum using the F.A.S.T. Framework (FinancialField Trips, Applications, Standards, Theory). Topics include credit scores, FICO, APR, how interest works, and credit-building strategies, adapted for middle school.
Students also run a community needs analysis, looking at where credit education falls short for elementary-age kids in their own area. That analysis is the "recognized community need" SSL asks for, identified by the students themselves.
Phase 2: Build
In the build phase, Millionaire's Club students use real tools to make original financial education resources:
Gemini AI to draft age-appropriate scripts and stories for elementary audiences
Canva to design illustrated Mini Money Books on credit, interest, saving, and borrowing
Interacty to build branching decision-tree stories where young learners make money choices and see what happens
GameClass to create interactive games that reinforce credit concepts
Families can see the kind of thing D2D builds on its financial literacy games page.
Phase 3: Teach
Millionaire's Club students deliver their materials as live FinancialField Trip® workshops for MCPS elementary students. That's the direct-service part of the program.
This is the phase that makes the learning stick. A seventh grader who can explain APR to a nine-year-old actually understands APR, which is a harder test than any worksheet. Students then extend the reach by placing QR codes that link to their tools in public spaces, which counts as advocacy service.
Why start credit education in middle school at all? Personal finance instruction in Maryland still depends heavily on which school a student attends, a gap D2D covered in its look at Maryland's financial literacy gap under the Blueprint.
Millionaire's Club Schedule and Locations
The Millionaire's Club meets weekly from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. at two MCPS middle schools this fall: Wednesdays at Forest Oak Middle School in Gaithersburg starting September 30, and Thursdays at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown starting October 1. Both sites run through mid-December.
Forest Oak Middle School | Neelsville Middle School | |
Day | Wednesdays | Thursdays |
Dates | September 30 to December 16, 2026 | October 1 to December 17, 2026 |
Time | 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. | 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. |
Address | 651 Saybrooke Oaks Boulevard, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 | 11700 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown, MD 20876 |
Phone | 240-740-7570 | 240-740-6630 |
How to Enroll Before September 23
To enroll in the Millionaire's Club, contact site coordinator Vanessa Blagmon at Vanessa.Blagmon@montgomerycountymd.gov or call the school's line before September 23, 2026. After that date, enrollment for both Forest Oak and Neelsville closes.
Email or call Vanessa Blagmon with your child's name, school, and grade.
Confirm your child's spot before the first session (September 30 at Forest Oak, October 1 at Neelsville).
Keep the completion portfolio your child receives in December.
Make sure the verified Form 560-51 reaches your school's SSL coordinator. MCPS requires all forms for the school year by the last Friday in May, which is May 28, 2027.
Full MCPS rules and deadlines are on the MCPS SSL page for students.
FAQ
Do Millionaire's Club SSL hours carry over to high school?
Yes. MCPS SSL hours earned from the summer after Grade 5 onward stay on the student's record and count toward the 75-hour graduation requirement. A 7th or 8th grader who completes the Millionaire's Club banks 15 hours before starting high school.
Does the Millionaire's Club count for SSL outside Montgomery County?
The confirmation from the MCPS SSL office applies to MCPS students. SSL is run county by county in Maryland, so students in other districts should ask their own SSL office whether the program qualifies.
Is there a Maryland law that makes financial literacy courses count for SSL?
No. SB 638 in 2024 and SB 715 and HB 326 in 2025 proposed that pathway, but none became law. The Millionaire's Club counts in Montgomery County because MCPS reviewed and confirmed this specific program.
What do students receive when they finish the Millionaire's Club?
Students earn 15 verified SSL hours, the D2D Ambassador designation, and a completion portfolio. The portfolio includes a verified hour log, work samples, a reflection product, and an official D2D Ambassador certificate.
When is the Millionaire's Club enrollment deadline?
Enrollment for both Forest Oak and Neelsville closes September 23, 2026. Contact Vanessa Blagmon by email or through either school's phone line to reserve a spot.
What to Do Next
Fifteen SSL hours, a semester of real credit education, and a portfolio your child built themselves. That's the Millionaire's Club this fall at Forest Oak and Neelsville.
If your child is at either school, email Vanessa Blagmon before September 23. Students who want a head start on credit can explore the D2D Youth Money Hub now.
Schools and youth programs that want a Millionaire's Club cohort of their own can review D2D's school and district partnership options. Families looking for other D2D programs can start with financial literacy classes for families.
