It was my distinct pleasure this morning to participate in the awards ceremony at Montevallo Elementary School (MES) in Shelby County. The invitation came from teacher Jo Ellen Mattingly who is the Gifted Resource Teacher at MES. Ms. Mattingly and several teams of students participated in the online Alabama Stock Market Simulation, a simulation sponsored by the UAB Center for Economic Education to promote financial and economic literacy among Alabama students.
The online simulation has some basic rules and each teams starts with $100,000 to invest. The three-member teams of students review, evaluate, and decide on which companies in which to invest. Two of the 13 teams at Montevallo placed in the regional competition. A fourth-grade team won first place in the regional and another came in third. These two teams also placed second and fourth in the statewide competition coming in ahead of many teams composed of students in high school. Below are some pictures of the teams.
Their accomplishment is quite noteworthy. The first place team turned $100,000 into $115,272 at the end of the ten-week simulation while the third place team had $112,413. There were 76 teams in the division consisting of grades 4th through 8th. The statewide competition was all schools including grades 4th through 12th.
Each team had a nickname. The third place team called themselves the Alabama Elephants and the first place team was The Alvas, named for a person who has been instrumental in giving rise to the populatirty of skateboarding, a hobby the whole team enjoys.
Shelby County can be very proud that three of the top five teams were from the county. Statewide winner was Oak Mountain High School.
I had a wonderful morning talking to the winners from the two teams pictured. And it was thrilling to hear about the competition and to see the enthusiasm the students showed for the project. And they are really hooked on this with plans to compete again next year as fifth graders.
-Brian-
on May 22, 2006, 11:57 am
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