8:42 a.m., Jan. 20, 2011----Five teams of students from local elementary and high schools and the Boys and Girls Club who picked stocks that gained value during a 10-week period in fall 2010 were honored at an awards reception held Tuesday, Jan. 18, 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) with financial support from the Delaware Investor Protection Fund.

Since 1983, the SMG has helped more than 48,000 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 fall, 1,141 Delaware students working on 236 teams participated in the contest, which ran from Oct. 4 through Dec. 10.

In building their portfolios, students researched and evaluated stocks and the companies that issue them and entered trades on the SMG website at real-time prices. At the end of the game, the team in each of the grade divisions and the two Boys and Girls Club divisions with the highest value portfolio was declared a winner.

Winning teams

In the grade 4-6 division, Ja'mire Fountain, Daisha Fauntroy and Tanyah Ramos from the Greater Newark Boys and Girls Club took first place with a closing portfolio value of $109,110.

Also in the grade 4-6 division, Solana Diaz, Destiny Kennedy, Colin McGarry, Mya Parks, Mario Alvarez-Reyes and Gabrielle Slaughter from Heritage Elementary School took first place with a closing portfolio value of $108,027.

Greg Betts, James Bond, Zoe Buckworth, Galen Coggins, Dallin Douglas, Nick Durrant, Anna Frangia, Chris Harriott, Declan Hindsley, Kelly Lawler, Hoon Lee, Dymond Morris and Amos Tarley from Kirk Middle School selected stocks that earned $109,962 for their portfolio to win the grade 7-8 division.

Also in the grade 7-8 division, Brandon Faulk, David Jones, Javonte McKnight and Andrew Risper from the Western Sussex Boys and Girls Club selected stocks that earned $106,445 for their portfolio to win.

In the grade 9-12 division, the winning team was Talia Hickman and Keneeka Pagan from Howard High School of Technology with a gain of $111,085.

Financial wisdom

Citing diversification, long-term growth, technological developments and reliability as reasons for selecting particular companies and stocks, the students showed financial wisdom beyond their years.

“We picked Apple stock because people like to buy laptops, iPods and iPhones,” said Ramos.

“We saw Apple and Google as reliable stocks with the potential to increase in value because they are extremely popular with people today,” said Betts.

Hickman and Pagan also selected Apple because of how often the company creates new technologies and Google based on the success of the company's website.

“We also picked Hershey,” Hickman and Pagan explained, “because who doesn't like chocolate?”

Parks, who spoke on behalf of her team, was appreciative of the opportunity to participate in the SMG.

“We learned a lot about how stocks move up and down and got a better understanding of how Wall Street and business works,” said Parks. “It feels great to have participated in the Stock Market Game and I am proud of my team for our accomplishments.”

InvestWrite competition

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 in response to a given question or topic, which changes every school year.

Yean Son from Linden Hill Elementary School won first place in the state of Delaware in the grades 4-5 division and Anna Frangia from Kirk Middle School won first place in the state of Delaware in the grades 6-8 division.

Son, whose essay was titled “Green Plate Special,” noted the importance of diversification as an investment strategy.

“I chose to look at investing the way you should look at food,” said Son. “If your plate is full of healthy food and vegetables, you have made a well-balanced choice. If you choose to eat only junk food, you have focused on just one thing and your choice is high in risk.”

Students, teachers commended

Peter Jamison, state securities commissioner for the Delaware Attorney General's Securities Unit, commended the students for participating in the SMG.

“The Investor Protection Fund is used in part to provide support for educational programs that produce awareness about securities and markets,” said Jamison. “It is important to think about the investments you make and to consider their long-term growth, and it is great to see all of you participating and learning about how the stock market works.”

James O'Neill, director of the CEEE and professor of economics in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, thanked the students' teachers for their support and noted that parents are also a critical component to education.

“If you think about the baby boomers and the state of investment and retirement today, you need to think carefully about the future,” said O'Neill. “The SMG is a very important tool that teaches students the value of investing and planning and will certainly help prepare this next generation for the future.”

Article and photos by Kathryn Marrone