The winning Lincoln Lutheran Church student team (from left) Isaac Schleicher, Nathan Hall, Dane Porche, and Raylen Urich are presented with their championship trophies after the JA Stock Market Challenge in April. Next, I will participate virtually in JA’s National Stock Market Competition on May 16th.
Photo by Randy Bretz
What happens to stock prices when the CEO is fired? How does a new product launch affect a company’s market price? Is it helpful to involve the team in developing the investment strategy?
Hundreds of Nebraska high school students learned these and many other valuable lessons while preparing for and participating in the Junior Achievement of Lincoln Stock Market Challenge in April.
“The stock market is important for students to understand how the investment world works,” said Logan Ryan, a business educator and coach at Lincoln Lutheran High School. “Identifying the factors that can influence long-term investing is important, especially when you consider the number of individuals whose money is tied up in the stock market.”
At Lincoln Lutheran Church, 16 students participated in the event, which was held at Pinnacle Bank Arena. He was one of his four-person teams at the school, but he doubled his expected initial investment of $1 million and he took first place.
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“I can’t believe how much this event has grown over the past nine years,” JA Lincoln Chairman Toni Lupe said. “In 2015, we started with just 18 schools and about 200 students. This year, 27 schools and more than 500 students participated in-person and an additional 100 online.”
The JA Lincoln Stock Market Challenge began when the organization hired the creator of a software-based system to help students learn. This year’s event featured a computer simulation created by JA International. A team of students buys and sells fictitious stocks over the course of his hour, all the while keeping up to date with information that could affect the market. The 60 minute event simulates his 60 days in the stock market.
“I feel like my students are gaining experience in the stock market,” said Jereme Jones, a business teacher at Hampton High School in Hamilton County, just east of Aurora. “More than anything, I think it gave the two young women who took the trip to Lincoln a boost in self-confidence.” I think it’s important to have that.”
Hampton’s team placed second in the overall challenge.
The JA Lincoln Stock Market Challenge, presented by Certified Financial Analysts (CFAs) in Nebraska, is one of the largest events of its kind in the nation. The list of sponsoring organizations and companies includes some of Nebraska’s leaders such as Union Bank & Trust, D.A. Davidson, Tasty Good Toffee, Nelnet, Lincoln Federal Savings Bank, and Q2. There is.
Students came from as far away as Kearney to participate in person, and many students from schools across eastern Nebraska also participated online.
“Our mission is to empower young people to achieve their own financial success by promoting lessons in financial literacy, career success, and entrepreneurship, leveraging volunteers from Lincoln’s amazing community and businesses. “It’s about making it happen,” Lupe said. “We serve K-12 students in all public and private schools in Lincoln.”
More than 30 volunteers helped run the event, including staff from companies such as Fiserv and Midlands Financial. Eric Crews of KPMG rang the opening bell and moderated the event.
“We had 20 students from various business-related classes,” said Josh Hinrichs, FBLA advisor and business teacher at Lincoln Southwest High School. “The stock market has become much more accessible to people. I know some high school students who are using their smartphones to invest on their own. It’s important for people to learn about stocks.
The Southwest team placed 3rd out of approximately 130 teams that participated.
“We are excited to have the top three teams participate in the online JA USA Stock Market Challenge on May 16th,” said Tyson Jenkins, vice president of program development for JA Lincoln. “The top two teams from Lincoln Lutheran University and Hampton University also received scholarships to the UNL College of Business. Winning teams from the JA USA event will be invited to attend the JA Student Leadership Summit in Washington in June. I think our students have a real chance to win.”
JA Lincoln is one of the largest Junior Achievement operations in the country and has recently expanded to serve nearly every school in Nebraska except the Omaha metropolitan area. The organization offers classes taught in person by volunteers or virtually in classrooms across the state.
