WHS sends three teams to Nov. 30 Stock Market Challenge @ UNL
'Wahoo Won' (Malousek/Jensen/Lowther/McFadden) leaves their mark with 13th place finish out of 235 teams!
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBoth bulls and bears were out yesterday for the Wahoo High School students that participated in the JA (Junior Achievement) Stock Market Challenge on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln!
According to their website, “Junior Achievement USA and Junior Achievement of Lincoln (Collectively “JA”) deliver educational programs to students in person and online. Junior Achievement’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed.”
With this particular event, JA brought the stock exchange to Nebraska! This fun-filled, action-packed competition gave high school students the opportunity to experience the stock market first-hand while enhancing team-building and communication skills in a fast-paced environment.
Launch the media gallery 2 playerPrior to the competition, students met before school to complete five lessons to learn about the basics of the stock market and the importance of savings and investing. Each team was then issued $1,000,000 to invest in shares of fictitious companies.
Throughout the 60-turn trading period, the simulation followed news events and their impact on the market, challenging students to work together and determine if they want to buy, sell, or trade.
There were 235 teams participating both in-person and virtually. Of the eighty teams that met in person, three were from Wahoo High School.
WHS’s highest placing team, Wahoo Won (Caleb Malousek, Pheonix Jensen, Keegan Lowther, and Nick McFadden), finished 13th, with a net worth of $1,354,862, with a ROI (return on investment) of 35.49%!
Wahoo Two (Isaiah Foster, Nathan Eriksen, Seth Obert, and Barrett Nelson) earned 129th place with a net worth of $1,043,423 and a ROI of 4.34%.
Wahoo Roomies (Ben Thrasher, Colin Ludvik, Gavin Pokorny and Sam Marxsen) placed 228th with a net worth of $594,797 and a ROI of -40.52%.
Thrasher said his team’s investing philosophy was “go big or go home.” In the end, “I think we went home,” he concluded.
Malousek commented, “The whole time was a blast and the energy was amazing!”.
“Once the students enter this room with the large projections of stock quotes, breaking news alerts and team standings on the walls, floor traders dressed in lime green, eighty tables each surrounded with four to five students, and emcees announcing the start of the game, they are just energized,” said WHS Business Teacher Barb Shanahan. “The students are fully engaged for the next 90 minutes of the game. It is great to see them display their knowledge of stocks and how the stock market functions.”
For more information about this event, read the article "Watch Now: Buy or sell? Nebraska students learn the rewards (and risks) of investing," written by Zach Hammack of the Lincoln Journal-Star.
