More than 1,300 Delaware elementary, middle and high school students participated in the 10-week Stock Market Game (SMG), a national competition sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), over the spring semester.

The event was coordinated locally by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at the University of Delaware. In addition to SIFMA, the competition was funded by the Investor Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice and WSFS Bank. On May 8, CEEE held a ceremony over Zoom honoring the winners of three grade categories as well as the winner of the InvestWrite essay contest in the spring 2024 edition of Stock Market Game.

“In this simulation, these incredible young students are able to learn about the risks and rewards of the economy,” said Scott Bacon, assistant director of CEEE and coordinator of the Stock Market Game at Delaware.

In the simulation, each team receives a virtual budget of $100,000 in fictional money to build and manage a stock portfolio of publicly traded companies. Before investing, they research companies as investment options and are able to follow the market’s ups and downs, while also keeping track of how they’re performing against their competitors in real time. After 10 weeks, those with the highest dollar value portfolio in each age group are the winners.

This competition has trained tens of thousands of students, as it was first offered by CEEE in 1983. This year, the competition included 1,338 students from 275 teams and 38 different schools. Delaware students’ strategy and adaptability became crucial, especially in the final hours of the competition.

Read the full article on the Lerner College website.