Last week, the University of Delaware’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) honored winners of the fall 2016 Stock Market Game (SMG) and spring 2016 InvestWrite competitions.

This fall, 1,452 students on 454 teams throughout Delaware participated in the SMG – a new record.

“This is the first year that we’ve been able to provide this to students and teachers around the state at no cost, and I think that’s clearly increased the number of participants,” said Carlos Asarta, director of the CEEE, at the awards ceremony.

Throughout this 10-week national program, which the CEEE has been administering in Delaware since 1983, students earned thousands of virtual dollars by investing in securities traded on the New York and Nasdaq exchanges.

Each team, tasked with growing a virtual $100,000, researched companies and stock performance before entering trades on the SMG website at real-time prices. The Delaware Department of Justice provides financial support for the program.

The first place elementary division team came from Shue-Medill Middle School with teacher John Markley, and included students Nicholas Gaskins and Paul Broomall.

The team of fifth-graders grew their initial $100,000 to $110,417 – nearly a 10.5 percent gain – with savvy investing in stock like Bank of America.

The first place team in the middle school division came from Gateway Lab School with teacher Daniel Mitchell, and included students Nathan Beyer, Josh Irwin and Brandon Saldan.

The Gateway Lab School team ended the game with a notable $111,593.

How did they do it? “A lot of research,” said one team member. “A lot of time and research.”

The team’s most valuable stocks included Bed, Bath and Beyond, Wendy’s and JCPenney.

The first place high school division team from Newark Charter School with teacher Justin Miller included students Daniel Gott, Thalha Habib, Glendale Manio and Aadesh Nagda.

This team impressed with a more than 15 percent gain in just 10 weeks. Their final total portfolio value totaled $115,131.

The team members described their strategy during the awards presentation, explaining that some of their preconceived notions of the stock market didn’t originally pan out.

For example, “Since the 10-week period ended around the time of Black Friday and the holidays... we figured that if we bought them low, they would rise high and we could sell them high at the end,” one team member said. “But that’s not how it turned out.”

The team created a new strategy, finding a stock with high value fluctuations.

“We decided that if we wanted to win, we would have to take the risk of investing in it,” the student said. That risk ended up paying off, with a boost of $50 per share in time for a first-place win.

All students who participate in the SMG are also eligible to participate in InvestWrite, a writing competition on topics related to securities trading.

The SIFMA Foundation, official provider of the SMG, announced the spring 2016 InvestWrite awards after the spring Stock Market Game was held. For this reason, these winners were honored at last week’s reception.

First place elementary division InvestWrite winner Louis McGlory came from South Dover Elementary School with teacher Michele Johnson.

During the ceremony, McGlory discussed his paper, which described his investment in technology companies. Johnson also praised her student’s dedication and interest in the competition, not letting spring break or even his birthday distract him from completing an excellent essay.

First place middle school division InvestWrite winner Xinyi Xiao hailed from Gauger-Cobbs Middle School with teacher Kerry Waugh.

Presenting the awards was Craig Weldon, chief special investigator for the Investor Protector Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice.

Weldon congratulated the students and teachers, and discussed the Department of Justice’s enthusiastic continued support of the program.

“We love supporting this program,” Weldon said, adding that the department is happy to see students taking an active interest in their financial futures.

“It’s a great program, and worthwhile,” he continued. “I hope we keep growing it exponentially.”

Marion Jacobs, CEEE staff member and SMG coordinator, added that the ceremony also celebrates the adults who support each winning student.

“We are also honoring you, their very dedicated teachers, parents and guardians, because we know that it is your support and your encouragement that stands behind every successful student here,” Jacobs said. “For your encouragement and your support, we thank you.”