They may only be in sixth grade, but a local team of middle school students turned $100,000 into $106,145.06.

Susan Lester’s Stock Market team won first place in the fall middle school Stock Market Game competition, sponsored by Merrill Lynch and the SC Council on Economic Education.

Newberry Middle school students Pablo Reyes, Cesar Sosa, Antonio Shells, Ben Eargle, Jesse Graham and Kyontavious Fair were honored at the SC Council on Economic Education’s annual awards luncheon in Columbia with trophies for their win.

THE GAME

For the competition, teams received $100,000 of hypothetical money to invest in any publicly-traded company on the three U.S. stock exchanges.

For ten weeks, teams research the companies, learn what it means to buy on margin and trade online.

More than 6,000 students in the state participated in the game this year.

The winning Newberry Middle School team, one of five teams from the school, increased their portfolio to $106,145.06.

Team member Ben Eargle studied stocks before choosing what to invest in, looking for proven success.

“Always look at stocks that have done well in the past,” Eargle said.

“We checked our stocks about every other day to make sure that they were earning money and not losing money,” said Kyontavious Fair.

“The Stock Market Game competition gives students a taste of real-life experience as they trade stocks,” said SC Council on Economic Education President Helen Meyers. “This knowledge and know-how will help them make sound financial decisions as they mature.”

“The game simulates real-life stocks,” said Antonio Shells. “If you lose stocks on the game, then in real-life you would lose money.”

Lester, a 6th grade social studies teacher at Newberry Middle, started the teams this year at the request of the students.

Several area elementary schools participated in the competition before, she said, and from the winning team, five out of the six boys were on teams in fifth grade.

“It amazed me how quickly the students understood the process of how to play the game,” said Lester. “I contribute much of this to the fact that they had been exposed to it in their elementary settings...There were over one hundred teams in all. Needless to say, we were thrilled about having one of our teams place first!”

Teachers use the Stock Market Game as an activity to teach economics.

The SC Council on Economic gives tools to teachers to educate students about finances and the global economy.

For more on the Stock Market Game, visit www.sceconomics.org