The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Middletown fifth-grader wins national essay contest
MIDDLETOWN — Earlier this week, Macdonough Elementary School fifthgrader Kendall Dennis, 11, won the top prize in her category at the SIFMA Foundation’s fall 2021 InvestWrite competition.
Kendell, researched and composed a long-term financial plan, according to a news release.
She was the Connecticut state winner in the elementary division and 10th-place winner in the national elementary rankings, according to STEM Academy extension teacher John Ferrero.
Both were honored by the foundation during a virtual assembly at the school March 25. She was surprised to learn she was being honored, Ferrero added.
The essay competition bridges classroom learning in math, social studies, and language arts with the practical research and knowledge required for saving, investing and long-term planning, SIMFA said.
It also serves as a culminating activity for The Stock Market Game, a financial education program in which students invest and manage a hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash over a period of 14 weeks, a semester, or academic year.
The contest challenged fourth- through 12th-graders to describe an investment portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds in sectors destined to transform the future, from technology, to medicine to transportation and beyond.
Students conducted research and contemplated their future lives to determine how industries would evolve and produce new jobs and careers, and how they would invest in this growth, the news release said.
They wrote how stocks, bonds or mutual funds could be combined to create a successful diversified portfolio within these new horizons, SIMFA said: “Dennis developed a plan that would have a positive impact in the future and wowed the panel of expert judges with her essay.”