YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – At the halfway point of trading, Cents and Sensibility from Northeast Ohio Impact Academy led the JA Stock Market Challenge.
“We decided to ride the trends,” senior Isaiah Santiago said. “There’s trends that pop up on the screen every few days, and we decided to just put most – if not all – of our money into them and take advantage of the trends.”
Isaiah and his teammates, senior Jayda Coriano and freshman Mason Smith, were among 120 students competing Friday in the contest at the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University.
Michele Merkel, president of Junior Achievement of Eastern Ohio, said students learn about investing for their future, which is a component of financial literacy. The contest makes it fun and relatable for students.
JA provides lessons that students can learn before the challenge so they’re prepared.
A screen at the front of the room shows a list of stocks, their value and whether they’re up or down. Students raise a paddle to summon a trader who notes the stocks a team wants to buy or sell and in what amount.
The contest simulates 60 days, with each day lasting a minute.
“They have one minute to buy, sell and trade their stocks,” Merkel explained.
And they had to account for news about the market too.
Friday marked the second year for the contest and added a challenge for college students in the afternoon.
Ken English, a financial adviser with Edward Jones in Canfield, was the emcee and announced when an event or change affected a company on the simulated stock exchange. Sometimes that was good news for a company and sometimes not.
“David Hall is stepping down from Hall Company,” English announced at one point.
A flurry of activity ensued among the young investors.
English teaches financial literacy at five area schools.
“It’s just something I’ve been passionate about for a very long time,” he said.
And he enjoys teaching young people.
“I think they need to understand this and save money and learn how investments work, so it’s good to see their excitement and their knowledge at this age,” English said.
As soon as Ted Schmidt, PNC regional president for Youngstown, rang the bell to signal the opening of the day’s trading, another NEO Academy team of Anatasios Davis, Yianni Koulias and Sean Griffin raised their paddle to sell some of their stocks.
Dubbed the Bullish Bandits, the three students watched the screen, discussed their strategy and monitored the news to chart their next moves.
Besides NEO Academy in Campbell, other high schools participating were Austintown Fitch, Bloomfield, Boardman, Southington Chalker, Lisbon’s David Anderson, Lakeview and Grand Valley and Spire, both in Ashtabula County.
Austintown juniors Isaiah Porch and Violeta Calvillo and senior Anthony Nespeca worked on the JA lessons in class before the contest to prepare.
“You buy low and sell high,” Anthony explained.
At the beginning of the challenge, they were hoping for a win. At the halfway point, Violeta said they were doing OK.
Mason, of the NEO Impact Academy Cents and Sensibility team, said the news alerts distributed periodically throughout the first round figured into the team’s strategy.
“They told us what not to buy and what to buy,” he said.
Isaiah added that the alerts included single market trends as well as newspaper articles.
“You have to read all the information in 60 seconds, buy and sell your stocks, and hopefully it works out for the best,” he said.
Pictured at top: Anatasios Davis, Yianni Koulias and Sean Griffin of Northeast Ohio Impact Academy in Campbell relay their stock buys, sells and trades to Diana Warren-Tolios of Middlefield Bank.