Ken Kezdi, center, a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch, explains the stock market to Jwun Gamble, right, 13, a seventh-grader at Orchard Knob Middle School, during a field trip.For a seventh-grader, Jada Brunson knows a lot about the New York Stock Exchange.
She can tell you how Apple stocks are prone to take off, how Ralph Lauren stock can be a bit shaky and how there’s money to be made if you invest in Aeropostale at just the right time.
Jada and fellow seventh-graders at Orchard Knob Middle School are well versed in the debate between cutting your losses on sinking stocks or holding on in hopes of a rebound. They know that every trade costs a little money, and that timing is everything. And best of all, they’ve lived the thrill of making it big by buying just the right stocks at just the right time.
Sixteen students from Buddy Sullivan’s seventh-grade math courses struck it rich while teamed up to play the Stock Market Game, a virtual stock market competition sponsored by Middle Tennessee State University. In the game, students have $100,000 to invest over a 10-week period. Several of the Orchard Knob teams placed among the best teams for generating some of the highest earnings at the end of the competition.
Using the game, Sullivan said he was able to draw students into the world of math and show them real life applications of what they learn in class.