Oak Hill students winners of stock market game competition

Students from Oak Hill Academy, coached by Stephanie Stroud, were recently named Region 4 first place winners in the spring high school division of the Mississippi Stock Market Game (SMG).

The winning students are Joseph Golson, Aidan Henson, Layton Irvin, and Lilly Costa Vipperman.

Several of Oak Hill’s teams also placed in the top 10.

The students on these teams include: Manning Huffman, Carley Wooten, Jamarcus Lloyd, Cohen Trolio, Sydney Pierce, Nicholas Flannagan, Baylee Smith, Brooklyn O’connor, Robert Hemphill, Parker Brand, Rachel Mclain, Alex Powell, Jamia Spearmon,

Kip Alpe, Lexi Morrison, Mckenzie Mcgee, and Garrett Edwards.

The simulation is a learning tool available about the free enterprise system for students in grades four through 12.

The program enables teams of students to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in the stock market over a 13-week period. Winners are determined on the percentage return above or below S&P 500 growth. The team outperformed the S&P by 14.3%.

MCEE President Selena Swartzfager said the spring trading session of the Stock Market Game was especially challenging.

“As a result of COVID-19 the market took a beating and most student portfolios actually decreased in value,” she said.

“However, the winners outperformed the S&P 500, which also fell in value. While the portfolios mostly lost value, this in itself is an important lesson for students to learn and experience. Should they watch the value of their portfolios in the future, it would be interesting to see how the market rebounds.”

MCEE will award prizes to each first and second place team in each region from each division.

Sponsors for the Spring 2020 SMG program are Atmos Energy, Bank First, Bancorpsouth, CFA Society Mississippi, Regions Bank, and Trustmark National Bank.