The University of Illinois Springfield College of Business and Management has awarded nearly $4,000 in prizes to local high school students who competed in a virtual stock trading competition. Spearheaded by UIS Assistant Professors of Finance Serkan Karadas and Tammy Schlosky, the competition included more than 80 students.
Conducted on the free platform MarketWatch, the competition drew participants from Rochester, New Berlin, Sacred Heart-Griffin and Auburn high schools. Home-schooled students also took part in the exercise.
The competition concluded with students from Rochester achieving the top five positions, with stock market returns ranging from 165.4% to 82.6% over the month-long period. Prizes for the winners were funded by the UIS Strategic Investment Fund with the first-place winner taking home $1,250.
“Our goal with this competition is not only to raise awareness about financial literacy among local high school students but also to inspire them to explore the field,” Karadas said. “We hope that through this initiative, students will see the benefits of understanding financial markets and consider how a degree from UIS could further their academic and professional aspirations.”
Schlosky hopes the experience will help the students learn a valuable life skill that they often don’t learn on their own.
“I hope the students will get hands-on experience with trading stocks so that they will not be scared of the stock market and finance in general,” she said. “I hope that they can build their confidence thanks to this competition, and they can proudly call themselves investors.”
Karadas and Schlosky remain committed to enriching educational opportunities for young learners and fostering an early interest in higher education and financial literacy. Plans are already underway to expand and enhance next year’s stock trading competition.