Playing the stocks
Students participate in CEEE's annual Stock Market Game
11:45 a.m., May 31, 2011--Four 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 spring 2011 were honored at an awards reception held Tuesday, May 24, at the University of Delaware's Newark campus.
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.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
Since 1983, the SMG has helped more than 49,000 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 243 teams participated in the contest, which ran from March 7 through May 13.
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 Boys and Girls Club divisions with the highest value portfolio was declared a winner.
Winning teams
In the grade 4-6 division, Joseph LoPorto, Connor Starr and Jonathan Zhang from North Star Elementary School took first place with a closing portfolio value of $108,692.
Matthew Davis, Timothy Fisher and Alexander Guevarez from Louis L. Redding Middle School selected stocks that closed with a portfolio value of $110,088 to win the grade 7-8 division.
Also in the grade 7-8 division, Nelson Cruz-Collazo, Treyvon Dollard, Khairon Edwards, Myonna Green, Purcell Hocker, Gary Hoey and Brianna Stanley from the Clarence Fraim Boys and Girls Club selected stocks that had a closing portfolio value of $101,809 for their portfolio to win.
In the grade 9-12 division, the winning team included Brenna Conner, Charity Cramer, Perris Drew and Leslie Rivera from Cab Calloway School of the Arts with a closing portfolio value of $133,228.
Smart picks
Brand awareness, popularity and household familiarity included some of the mature reasons the young students cited for selecting particular companies and stocks.
Zhang, who spoke on behalf of his team, told the audience they picked Netflix stock because people like to bring the movies into their homes. In true acceptance-speech style, Zhang also took the time to thank “the teachers who helped us participate in the game and the PTA for paying for our registration fee.”
The Cab Calloway team members, who boasted record growth of stock, credited their win to research and timing.
“We checked the top 10 stocks on Google, looked at graphs of the growth and tried to predict the future,” said Conner. “We chose mutual funds and other stocks, but a lot of our growth came from our investment in the silver market.”
Luckily, said both Conner and her teacher, Christopher Clarke, the SMG ended just in time.
“The stock fell right after the game closed, so we might not have had so much growth if the game went longer,” admitted Conner.
Cab Calloway not only produced the winning team but also took second through tenth places out of the many high school teams registered in the state, said Marion Jacobs, coordinator of the SMG and staff member at the CEEE.
When Jacobs asked Clarke the secret to getting students involved and making smart decisions, Clarke credited the opportunity to make money as a motivator.
“I think a lot of the inspiration came from the idea that the students could make money, said Clarke, who helped coordinate the game at Cab Calloway. “But we also presented the students with smart investing options, advised them that the game was only 10 weeks, so looking at long term investments might not be the best approach, and encouraged them to connect their choices to the bigger picture of the financial landscape.”
Keith Warren, deputy attorney general and director of community relations at the Delaware Department of Justice and a 2000 graduate of UD, attended the awards ceremony and commended the students for participating in the SMG.
“Starting financial education at an early age is key, and the Stock Market Game is a useful tool for students to do just that,” said Warren. “It’s great to see so many students involved, and that the parents and teachers see the value in educating students about investing and planning.”
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.
Eliza Wieman from North Star Elementary School won first place in the state of Delaware in the grades 4-5 division and Victoria Leone from H.B. duPont Middle School won first place in the state of Delaware in the grades 6-8 division.
This year, Delaware also had a student winner at the high school level; Teresa Smith from St. Elizabeth’s High School won first place in the grades 9-12 division.
Article by Kathryn A. Marrone
Photos by Duane Perry