In a competition which drew more than 13,000 middle school and high school students from across Illinois, Prairie View eighth graders Nathan Firestone, Lauren Vanderberg, Kaitlyn Barlas and Ryan Spain took third place in the Grades 4-8 division of the fall session of The Stock Market Game (SMG), an online portfolio simulation competition. The team invested $100,000 in virtual cash and participated in the competition as part of their Geoeconomics curriculum in Kirby School District 140.
Geoeconomics Teacher Mr. William Cornfield and his winning eighth grade team were recognized with medals and award certificates for increasing their original $100,000 investment to a final portfolio equity of $108,186.41. They outperformed the S & P 500 for the same period by more than 17 percent.
The Stock Market Game™ (SMG) program is a project-based learning activity used in thousands of classrooms nationwide to help teach core academic subjects while emphasizing the importance of long-term saving and investing. Students work together in teams to conduct research and invest their hypothetical $100,000 cash account into stocks, bonds and mutual funds to grow their portfolio over time. Through their participation, students gain practical knowledge about our capital markets, including concepts like risk and diversification. While the students think they're playing a game, their teachers know they’re learning real-life economic and financial skills that will benefit them for years to come.
Since its inception in Illinois in 1988, the SMG program has engaged more than 700,000 Illinois students. The SMG program, designed for grade 4-12 teachers and their students, is provided by Econ Illinois and administered by Northern Illinois University.