HJHS students claim top honors in stock market game
By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Make money in today’s topsy-turvy stock market…impossible you say? Not for Hartselle Junior High School students who recently wrestled a volatile bear market to its knees with portfolio gains surpassing $30,000 in 10 weeks.
Teams advised by Gifted Teacher Elisa Harris captured first and second place honors in the North Region Lower Division of the Alabama Stock Market Game by out-competing teams from 161 other schools. The top team finished with the biggest portfolio in the state—$132,238.68, a 32 percent return on investment in 10 weeks. The second place team finished with a portfolio totaling $128,523.53, or some $23,000 higher than the third place team. They claimed cash awards of $350 and $250, respectively,
In 2007, Hartselle Junior High School placed eight teams in the top 10 and won cash awards totaling $900.
The fall session of the Alabama Stock Market Game attracted 935 teams from 102 schools. The program is presented by the Alabama Council on Economic Education and sponsored by Sterne Agee. Scholarships are provided to select schools by New South Federal Savings Bank.
So how did these kids do what would baffle most adults? “The game emphasizes research and long term investment principles,” explained Wanda McAbee, SMG coordinator. “The strategies of the winning teams took different paths. Many of the top teams invested in Wal-Mart—a retailer that is attracting shoppers in tough times. In Hartselle, teams invested in a mutual fund that specializes in ‘short selling.’ And at Spain Park in Hoover—winner in the upper division—the team went local and invested in Vulcan Materials, a Fortune 600 company based in Birmingham.”
Students started the game in September, just weeks before the October stock market plunge. Many watched as the $100,000 they invested lost money over the next few weeks. Every day the headlines in their local newspaper s were reflected in their portfolios. However, playing under the same rules as the real NYSE and NASDAQ markets, many students discovered there are good investments to be made even in a bear market.
