Need investment advice?
Consider consulting the stock market savvy students at DeKalb’s Redan High School.
Redan High School's stock market teams dominated the SIFMA Foundation's Capitol Hill Challenge, achieving an amazing showing with the No. 1 team in the nation and two others in the top 10 final money standings. The national field included 3,425 teams.
Over a 14-week period, student teams managed a hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio and invested in real stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Most teams have three to five students and schools could have up to 10 teams compete.
So, how did a single high school from Stone Mountain end up with three of the top teams, a school that until last year was on the state’s priority list because it was in the bottom 5 percent of Title I schools?
“I think the class did well for a few reasons: it was a breath of fresh air for them to engage in financial literacy, they reveled in the real-time competitive aspect of it, and they were able to use a combination of learning and instinct to deal with money. The game takes place on a truly fluid, well-run website that is not unlike real online trading,” said teacher coach William Roth.
Roth teaches English at Redan, not economics. The students on the team came out of his second period British literature class.
“I have dealt with investing in my life, and also I remember playing the Georgia Stock Market game in math class back in the fifth grade,” said Roth. “So, I asked my principal and she said I could attend the advisor training that would allow me to coach Redan's stock program, which they either haven't had before or was long dormant.”
"As opposed to more traditional trading, we took more risk in this 14-week competition. We focused on tech and medical companies that were rebounding from low stock prices,” said Shania Hinds, captain of the No. 1 team.
Her teammate Alexis Goings already runs her own culinary business. “I want to open my own restaurant named Big Mama's eventually, and this whole experience has really opened up some parts on the business end for me,” she said.
As captain of the fourth-highest earning team in the country, Redan student Adrian Brewster said, "I'm interested in using technical trading tactics, as opposed to fundamental trading. We basically studied the data and the charts, and it really didn't so much matter the company's name."
While the top 10 teams earn a visit and fete in Washington, competition rules limit the trip to one team per high school. So, not all the winning Redan players went on the trip to the U.S. Capitol, which included meetings with Georgia leaders, including Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia.
“These young minds deserve to be recognized and celebrated,” said Johnson in a statement. “We must continue to foster all of our students’ interests in the financial market and support their efforts to become self-sufficient with their finances and their understanding of the global markets.”
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Credit: undefined
The top Redan team consisted of Shania Hinds, captain, Alexis Goings, Jacarria Harris and Nehemiah Adams.
The other two Redan teams in the top 10 were:
Adrian Brewster (captain), Jamarri Henderson and Jaylen Payton. (“They brought their team all the way back from almost 3,000th place with some insane stock picks,” said Roth.)
Rthyan Lufroy (captain), Kendall Smith, Jaisean Ifeacho and Oluwa Tomi.
Congrats to all these remarkable students and their dedicated teacher.
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