Despite the downturn in the economy, Fayette County students at two different schools participating in spring stock market challenges proved there is still money to be made – if you play your cards right.

    Angela Outland’s Introduction to Business class at Tates Creek High School placed first in the state and first in the region in The Stock Market Game. Students at The Family Care Center, guided by life skills instructor Jessica Clark, placed first in the region in the Take Stock in Kentucky competition.

    “As an educator, it always is rewarding to have the opportunity to expose our students to a topic most of them know little about and help them to begin to cultivate an understanding of how this knowledge might be helpful to them in the future,” said Clark, whose students got T-shirts and $50 for a class party.

    “We actually learned through hands-on experience buying and selling stocks, looking at stock ratings and researching long-term stock options,” said Kim Baker, a student in Kathy Neal’s winning classroom at The Family Care Center.

   “Because the game is only for a few months, you have to keep an eye on the stocks every day and make your changes late in the afternoon right before the stock market closes and pay attention to stock ratings. We also looked at which stocks would help our overall economy during the recession.”

    At Tates Creek, Outland’s class got a cash award of $300, $50 for a pizza party, a trophy and medals. Her students also received $50 for the regional win and an invitation to the Kentucky Council on Economic Education’s awards luncheon June 26 at the Life Fundamental$ Financial Literacy Summit.

    “While playing the game, I encouraged students to watch business news in order to stay up to date on current events and investing news,” Outland said. “Students were surprised how quickly a stock price (and the stock market) can change. They saw how volatile the stock market can be and realized some of the risks associated with investing.”

    The volatility made an impression on Rizka Rivianti, a freshman at Tates Creek

    “I personally watched the news so I could check for stocks and to see which companies were doing really good. Also, a few of the stocks we bought was just a lucky guess from the information provided on www.nasdaq.com,” Rivianti said.

    “From this game, I learned that stocks are very unpredictable. … The main thing that I learned was to not be afraid to take the risks.”

 

The Stock Market Game is an interactive, interdisciplinary program for students in grades 4-12 (and college) to learn about economics, finance and the American system.

    The program is offered each fall and spring. Teachers are provided with resources on investing, capital formation, the stock market and the economy. During a 14-week period, teams of students research companies, make investment decisions and create their portfolios, investing $100,000 in imaginary money in stocks and mutual funds.

    Teams are ranked on equity in portfolio as students compete against other Kentucky teams statewide and across local regions.

    The national program is sponsored by the Foundation for Investor Education; it is offered in this state by the Kentucky Council on Economic Education.

 

779: Teams participating in the spring

2,751: Students competing

 

Take Stock in Kentucky, sponsored by Hilliard Lyons, is the 10-week state-specific version of The Stock Market Game. It gives students an opportunity to learn about and invest in Kentucky businesses and companies important to the local economy.

384: Teams participating in the spring

1,628: Students competing