1:47 p.m., June 7, 2010----Three teams of elementary and high school students who picked stocks that gained value during a 10-week period in spring 2010 were honored at an awards reception on Tuesday, June 1, at the University of Delaware's Newark campus.

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The students were competing in The Stock Market Game (SMG), a comprehensive investment education program offered in Delaware exclusively by UD's Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE).

Since 1983, the SMG has helped more than 47,000 Delaware students learn how financial markets work and how capital is raised to fund business growth.

The SMG is an educational Internet simulation that introduces students to Wall Street by allowing them to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in a portfolio of common stocks listed on the New York and American stock exchanges and the NASDAQ stock market. Students form teams and select stocks, and then watch their money grow or diminish in competition with every other team in the state.

This spring, more than 1,000 Delaware students working on 235 teams participated in the contest.

In building their portfolios, students researched and evaluated stocks and made decisions based on what they learned. Student teams traded common stocks and mutual funds, earned interest on cash balances, paid interest if they were buying on the margin and paid a commission on all trades.

In the grade 4-6 division, Elizabeth Brustman, Anna McCarter, Grace Shiau and Pia Singh from North Star Elementary School took first place with a closing portfolio value of $183,428.

James Fitzgerald, Jacob Regler, Luke Szrama and Luke Williams from Christ the Teacher Catholic School selected stocks that earned $108,445 for their portfolio to win the grade 7-8 division.

In the grade 9-12 division, the winning team was David Rathmanner and Jeff Sowden from Charter School of Wilmington with a gain of $106, 933.

Students also participated in InvestWrite, a national writing competition produced by the SMG program that evaluates students' overall understanding of the stock market and their ability to write critically on investment strategies.

The competition is a complementary companion to the SMG because it reinforces students' newfound knowledge and hones their critical thinking skills. Every assignment introduces or relates to investment principles linked to the SMG and ties to various lessons throughout the curriculum.

Students participated by writing essays in their grade division.

Abhishek Damaraiu from North Star Elementary School won first place in the state of Delaware in the grades 4-5 category.

For his grade category, Damaraiu was asked to write about something he would save for and why, how he would grow his savings and what type of combination he would select regarding his investments.

Damaraiu elected to save for a car to use in college, and explained why he would invest his money in stocks rather than deposit his savings in a bank.

“Say you put $200 in a bank,” said Damaraiu. “At the end of the year, you might have $204. So you're earning something, but if you put your money in different places like stocks, you can earn more money because you have variation.”

Damaraiu also cited mutual funds as an alternative place to invest savings, and pointed out a benefit would be having a professional manage the fund.
As part of his essay, Damaraiu also needed to address what he learned by participating in the SMG that helped him make those choices.

“I learned from the Stock Market Game that it is better to spread your savings around rather than have all your money in one place,” he said.

Sooren Moosavy from H.B. du Pont Middle School won first place in the state of Delaware in the middle school category.

For his grade category, Moosavy was tasked with writing a letter of advice to an adult explaining how the SMG taught him to choose different kinds of investments and the importance of not “putting all your eggs in one basket.”

Specifically, he needed to convince the reader that investing in just one stock, bond, mutual fund or one kind of company was risky and by varying selections, the reader would produce a “safer basket” of investments.

“I picked fast food restaurants like KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut on the one hand,” said Moosavy. “On the other hand, I picked the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, because they own a lot of grocery stores like Pathmark and Super Fresh.”

Moosavy's logic was to choose opposites when selecting various investments so as not to put all his dollars in one place.

“If one stock goes up, the other will probably go down,” he said. “If people decide to eat out a lot, the value of the fast food places will go up. But if people decide to save money by making their own meals at home, the value of the grocery stores would go up.”

According to James O'Neill, director of the CEEE and professor of economics, the SMG is one of many innovative programs sponsored by the CEEE for Delaware K-12 teachers and their students.

“But in addition to the game, there are a number of things that come together to provide students with a successful education,” said O'Neill. “You have to have a good administration. Teachers are also critically important and parents are an essential component as well.

“It is nice to see all these ingredients here together, and I have to hand it to the students who showed an interest and got involved.”

Article by Kathryn Ann Marrone
Photos by Evan Krape