Fall 1999

I think we should buy 2,000 shares of Dell." "No, I think our portfolio should be more diversified. Let's buy 300 shares of Amazon and 200 shares of Yahoo."

This may sound like adults plotting their investment strategy, but it's actually a conversation between two sixth-graders who are members of an SMG team in a Delaware classroom.

SMG is the Stock Market Game®, a trademarked part of a nationwide program, SMG WORLDWIDE, of the Securities Industry Foundation for Economic Education.

Over the past 20 years, this program has helped more than 6 million students in the U.S. and in 15 other countries learn how financial markets work and how capital is raised to fund business growth. SMG has been offered in Delaware since 1984 exclusively by UD's Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship. This past year, almost 3,000 students and 75 teachers from public and private schools across the state participated.

SMG is a 10-week simulation, offered in the fall and spring, that gives players the opportunity to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in stocks chosen from the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Composite Index. The student version features two levels of competition--the elementary/middle school division for grades four through eight and the high school division for grades nine through 12. On a basic level, trades may be limited to a simple buy and sell transaction. For more advanced players, the game allows for short selling and buying on margin.

At the end of the 10 weeks, the teams with the greatest return are declared the winners. Statewide winners, as well as those in each school, are honored at an awards reception with trophies, ribbons and certificates. Awards are also presented to winners of the statewide Stock Market Game® Essay Contest.

The game also is open to home-schoolers, teachers and, in separate divisions, post-secondary students and adults. Each team, which may consist of one to six individuals, is assessed a fee.

Participants in the Stock Market Game® discover the risks and rewards involved in decision-making, the sources and uses of capital and other economic concepts, while applying basic skills such as reading comprehension, mathematics, research and computer proficiency. An April 5 article in The Wilmington News Journal included comments from several students: "Well, it really helps me in math, too," said Michelle, a sixth-grader from Bear. "And geography," said Jen, a seventh-grader from Bear. "And life," added Katie, a seventh-grader from New Castle. "What we are learning here will help us later on."

SMG WORLDWIDE also provides instructors with training, lesson plans, comprehensive curriculum materials and an ongoing support system. Teachers participating for the first time must take a six-hour workshop, offered free by the Center each fall and spring.

The traditional SMG is played on paper, with students recording their trades on scan sheets that are sent to the Delaware Council on Economic Education for processing. Each week, players receive updated portfolio reports. Last fall, an Internet version, SMG 2000, was offered statewide in Delaware for the first time and attracted twice as many participants as the paper game.

At the Delaware Stock Market Game® reception in May, a record 350 students, parents, teachers and administrators attended and witnessed the awarding of 57 trophies, 215 ribbons and 275 certificates.

In addition to the Securities Industry Foundation for Economic Education and the Delaware Council on Economic Education, the 1998-99 program in Delaware also was sponsored by The News Journal and several area stockbrokers: Addison Capital Management; Morgan Stanley Dean Witter; Friess Associates of Delaware; Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith; Wheat First Securities; Heather Agency; Cypress Capital Management; and Carol Timms, PNC Securities.

For more information on the traditional or Internet game, visit the SMG web site at <http://www.smgww.org>, or call (302) 831-2559.