Jasper Gould and Emile Chilingirian are juniors at the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, but much of their time outside class is spent on projects that look more like a small financial media company than a typical high school activity. The two founded the Brooklyn Youth Charitable Investment Group in September 2024, a student-run organisation designed to teach high schoolers about finance while giving them experience managing real investments and directing returns toward charitable causes. Alongside BYCIG, they created Passing the Torch, a finance and economics newsletter that has grown to around 57,000 subscribers, according to Gould, with readers that include professionals at major financial and technology companies. The publication describes itself as a youth-focused source of analysis covering markets, economics, politics and culture. What began as two teenagers exploring their interest in finance has since developed into a sizeable media operation with a readership extending well beyond their school community. The initiative reflects a broader trend of young people using digital platforms to build communities around investing, entrepreneurship and financial literacy at an increasingly early age.
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