PHS students flex their skills and take top honors in competition

Need financial advice? Your top financial advisor just may be at your local school. These students took learning to the next level by taking top honors in the Mississippi Stock Market Game (SMG). Students from Pelahatchie High School (PHS), coached by Mandy Herrington, were named Region 3 first place and second place winners in the fall 2022 High School Division of the Mississippi Stock Market Game. The first-place team consisted of Macey Bowman, Brayden Greene, Jabari Hodges and Savannah Whiddon. The second-place team consisted of Maggi Gilliam, Zion Grant and JJ Henson.

The simulation is one of the most effective learning tools available about the free enterprise system for students in grades 4 through 12. The program enables teams of students to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in the stock market over a thirteen-week period. Winners are determined on the percentage return above or below S&P 500 growth.  The first-place team outperformed the S&P by 14.7%, and the second-place team outperformed the S&P by 12.1%. 
 

“The Stock Market Game has always been a virtual program and has been implemented by teachers across the state in their classrooms. Now that students are back in the classroom, this virtual program continues to be a valuable tool in innovative learning. We are proud of the teachers for thinking outside of the box when it comes to engaging their students. As it is a STEM program, it fits well inside many subjects,” said Mississippi Council on Economic Education (MCEE) president Selena Swartzfager.
 

MCEE will award prizes to the first- and second-place teams in each region from each division during a Stock Market Game awards ceremony. 
The curriculum used in the SMG is correlated with Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards and meets the criteria of a STEM program. Teachers report that math scores increase when the SMG is used in the classroom.
 

SMG is an online education program used in thousands of classrooms nationwide to help teach math, social studies, business, economics, and language skills. Students in grades 4 through 12 participate in teams and manage a simulated investment portfolio during the school year. 
 

SMG is made possible by the support of more than six hundred securities firms, combined with grass-roots support in schools and communities. It is the only stock market simulation supported by the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market.  
 

Sponsors for the Fall 2022 SMG program are Bank First, Cadance Bank, CFA Society, Entergy, the Finra Investor Education Foundation, MGM Resorts Foundation, Regions Bank, the Sifma Foundation, Toyota, and Trustmark National Bank.