Eight WHS students compete in 2019 Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge
The Wahoo Hotdogs place 28th of 134 teams with a return on investment of 23.35%
Launch the media gallery 1 player“Rule number one: Don’t lose money. Rule number two: Don’t forget rule number one.” –Warren Buffett
That was the challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 19, when hundreds of Nebraska students competed in the 2019 Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge, a high-action simulation of the unpredictable roller coaster that is the stock market, held on the UNL Innovation Campus in Lincoln.
Over 600 students from Nebraska, comprising 134 teams, participated in the morning and afternoon sessions. The simulation represented 60 days of stock market trading.
Wahoo Public Schools was closed to students on Nov. 19, so while most students enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in, eight WHS students jumped at the opportunity to wake early, dress up in their finest business attire, and make the trek to Lincoln to attend this annual event.
When all was said and done, both of Wahoo’s teams benefited from Buffett’s advice, and finished the competition with a positive return on investment (ROI).
Wahoo’s first team, fondly referring to themselves as the Wahoo Hotdogs, consisted of Cooper Hancock, Jordan Broome, Rolando Sotelo, and Hayden Griego. They finished in 28th place, with an ROI of 23.35%. Not too shabby!
The Hotdogs were in first place for three days, and in one of the top three places for the first 20 days of trading. When asked why they dropped, their response: they kept too much cash on hand. Lesson learned!
Wahoo’s second team, the Wahoo Booyah Boys (Vanis Davidson, Jackson Taylor, Grant Crockett, and Nick Fuller), finished 80th with an ROI of 7.21%.
According to WHS Business Instructor Barb Shanahan, the boys were excited when they returned from their competition, and said it was worth the sacrifice of waking up early and dressing up on their day off from school!
Benjamin Franklin once said that an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. For the Wahoo Hotdogs and Booyah Boys, putting their knowledge into action and learning from a simulated, fast-paced real-life experience made for a day well spent!
