Elementary Student Places First in Stock Market Competition

PA Cyber fourth grader Annabel Reeves cracked the stock market in the Fall Semester 2022 Stock Market Competition. She took first place in Beaver County and fifth place in the state competition for elementary students.

“It was fun to do a bit of trading before I have to do it in real life,” said Annabel. She plans to compete in the spring semester challenge. The game starts every player with $100,000 to buy stocks and then trade, sell, or buy additional stocks with the goal of maximizing their portfolio’s revenue. At the close of the fall competition, Annabel grew her starting balance to $106,337.25, with return percentage of 6.34%. At the start of the game, Annabel went to her father Matt for guidance, and he taught her one main rule: buy and hold. She picked stocks that were doing well in the actual stock market, and she didn’t touch the game again for the remaining ten weeks.

Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Council on Financial Literacy, the real-time stock game is used in over 80% of the top business schools in the United States. Last fall, 17 students from PA Cyber’s gifted and STAR programs participated in the competitions. (STAR is a PA Cyber academic incentive program.) “Trading stocks helps students understand why certain products are in demand due to economic growth or in less demand due to economic decline,” said Director of Gifted and Talented Mike Hissam. Annabel is in her fourth year with PA Cyber. “I really like it because I like working on the computer,” she said. “It’s really easy to do it independently, and I like being independent.” She is enjoying her science and social studies classes the most, and she wants to be an astronomer someday. Learn more at pacyber.org.