Students enjoy bullish stock market performance

By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Students from Hartselle Junior High and Hartselle High School won first place honors in the Alabama Stock Market Game for the fall semester.
A HJHS team consisting of Nick Beach, Tyler Phillips, Tanner Brown and Aaron Lamb claimed first place in the grades 4-8 division by earning dividends totaling more than $11,000 during a 10-year period of buying and selling in the U.S. Stock Market.
Hartselle High students Zac Bodley and Laci Summerford almost swept top honors in the grades 9-12 division. Competing as individuals, Bodley claimed first and third place and Summerford finished second. They collected cash prizes totaling $550 and $250, respectively.
The way the game is played each student or team of students is given $100,000 in seed money with which to buy stocks and mutual funds and to either sell them or hold them during a 10-week period. Winning is based on the net gain of the stocks held during that time frame. The grades 4-8 winners chose to use their $100,000 to invest in the stocks of McDonalds Hershey’s, Microsoft, E-bay, UPS and the New York Stock Exchange. Eventually, they sold off five of their purchases and stuck with NYX. It paid off by returning over $l1,000 in profit.
“We sold off some of the stocks when they were up and reinvested the money in NYX. That paid off big time,” Phillips said. “We think this experience will help us later on when we consider making investments in stocks. We learned that it can either make you or break you.”
The Alabama Stock Market Game is the only stock and mutual fund in-school experience approved by the New York Stock Exchange and the Securities Industry Association.
Other winners from Hartselle Junior High are listed as follows: Third place-Haley Rigdon, Ivana Brecken Steenson and Haven Dean; Fourth place—Chelsea Legg, Kelly Ramey and Elizabeth McDaniel; Fifth place—Elizabeth Russell, Olivia Ellis, Katie Varwig, Mary Roberts and Ciera Gilbert; Sixth place—Preston Adams, Brooks Padgett and Brandon Long; Ninth place—Will Payne.