Each spring, William Byrd High School students enrolled in an Economics and Personal Finance
course get the opportunity to practice investing in the stock market. Using a simulated
investment platform, students are challenged to develop a diversified portfolio that will produce
the largest return on their $100,000 investment. Over the course of 10 weeks, team members
buy, sell, and closely monitor their securities with the hopes of earning a medal and bragging
rights to prove that they achieved the rank of “best investor.”
Nathan Hiemstra earned the top spot out of all 86 competitors with an impressive 19.91% return
on investment. Nathan’s hard work helped him narrowly edge past Dylan Burkett and Sean
Rickman, who both favored shares of eBay. Maddux Sizemore, Madison Miller, and Nevaeh
Davila each won first place in their respective classes. Their competitive spirit and thorough
knowledge of business concepts paid off. Kudos!
Rising-senior Nevaeh Davila held onto first place in her class thanks to savvy stock choices,
including her investment in Dell. For fun, Neveah purchased a small amount of shares in Build-
A-Bear and sold the shares for a $600 profit.
“When I noticed a stock was going down in price and was not changing, I’d either sell half of it
or drop all of it. Then, I’d invest in other stocks that were doing well, like Nvidia,” Nevaeh said.
Neveah’s strategy helped grow her portfolio by 10.88%. Students learned that the stock market is
quite volatile and a “buy and hold” investment strategy is less risky than day trading. There were
many surprises, both joyful and heartbreaking, throughout the competition.
Special thanks to Pacific Life for their sponsorship of Personal Finance Lab’s stock market game
this past spring.
Submitted by Mary Jean Sullivan, WBHS Business Teacher and FBLA co-adviser
