SMG champs
UD's CEEE honors Delaware winners of Stock Market Game, InvestWrite
1:15 p.m., June 15, 2015--The Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at the University of Delaware honored winners of the spring 2015 Stock Market Game (SMG) and InvestWrite competition this June.
Throughout this 10-week national program, which the CEEE has been administering in the state with the support of the Delaware Department of Justice since 1983, more than 900 Delaware students on 237 teams earned thousands of virtual dollars by investing in securities traded on the New York and Nasdaq exchanges.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
Each team, tasked with growing a virtual $100,000, researched companies and stock performance before entering trades on the SMG website at real-time prices.
“How would you invest $100,000?” asked Marion Jacobs, CEEE staff member and SMG coordinator, during the award reception.
The winning SMG teams certainly made wise choices in their investments. The first place winners from Albert H. Jones Elementary School turned their $100,000 into $106,147 during the SMG’s 10 weeks.
The team includes fifth-graders Courtney Drake, Travis Hawkins, Tiyana Hess and Nia Mathis, taught by Suzanne Cline. This was Cline’s first year participating in the program, and she said that her students had no previous experience with the stock market.
After receiving training and resources from the CEEE to administer the program, Cline said that she taught the students everything she knew. After that, “they just took off and were so fascinated by it.”
Cline was surprised by how self-motivated her students were to compete in the SMG. They even, she said, took the initiative to assign each other SMG homework – to read helpful websites or research stocks.
“They’re just driving the ship.” Cline said. “They loved it.”
Cline praised her students for diversifying their portfolio, saying, “They went into industries that they weren’t even used to, like chemicals and airlines.”
The team from Jones Elementary could not attend the awards ceremony because they were away on a school trip to Washington, D.C., at the time. The second-place elementary team, finishing only $430 behind first place, came from North Star Elementary School.
The team included Alexandra Momot, Annette Wei and Abby Yheaulon, who turned their $100,000 into $105,717 under the guidance of teacher Margo Miller.
The team’s secret to success was in their decision to choose small companies with initially low stock prices. Wei said that her favorite part of the SMG was researching new companies on Google Finance with her teammates.
Winning the middle school division this year were Joseph Harwell and Thomas Marzulli from Holy Angels School, who ended the game with $107,621. Their teacher is Keith McKenica
In the Boys and Girls Club High School division, Christian Cofield, Lewis Flowers and Quy’shaun Turner from H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club, coached by Theron Harper, won with a final total of $101,794.
Mount Pleasant High School students Quaadir Hankins Chambers, Jacqulyn Kelley, Leah Marker and Barkim White won in their division after earning more than $10,000 on the stock market. The team, taught by Eva Grider, ended the game with $110,718.
InvestWrite winner creates stock market superhero
Students who participate in the SMG are eligible to participate in InvestWrite, a national writing competition that challenges students to write critically on the stock market investment strategies.
This year’s winner was Ashton Anderson from North Star Elementary School, also taught by Miller.
Anderson’s winning essay invented a new superhero with superpowers based on the stock market. His superhero, Captain Create, is outfitted with a wide variety of gadgets to give him super abilities, like a suit that can download information and create a budget for anyone.
“He also has powers not created by gadgets, like his ‘micro breath,’ which makes retirement stocks grow, and ‘interest rate eyesight,’ which makes bank accounts, mutual funds and bonds automatically increase,” Anderson said.
Anderson added that, although writing the essay was a challenge, it taught him “endurance and to honor my commitments.”
Article by Sunny Rosen
Photos by Lane McLaughlin