THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406220157
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 3P EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: Medium
Those are the breaks when you're in the fifth grade, playing the market on paper and just using the experience to brush up on your math skills.
{REST} But a six-member team from Trantwood Elementary School won both an imaginary windfall and a real-life trip to New York City's Wall Street.
This spring, pitted against 2,500 other teams, many from high schools and colleges throughout Virginia, the Trantwood students won the Spring '94 Stock Market Game. The national competition is a project of the Virginia Council on Economic Education locally, and sponsored by the council, Wheat First Butcher Singer, Northwest Airlines and The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
The game simulates actual profits and losses over a 10-week period using an imaginary $100,000 as the initial investment. Players are encouraged to do their own research and even call in the advice of a stockbroker. In the Trantwood team's case, tips came from a teacher's husband, a broker.
``But,'' said their teacher, Jane Barrett, ``one of the stocks they sold short my husband had never heard of.''
The kids avidly studied trade magazines and followed television stock watch programs. They focused on Titan Corp. of San Diego and S3 Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif. They found out one company they were interested in, Titan, was in a court battle with the government. When it appeared the company would win, they figured the stock would rise. It did.
Nevertheless, one week the group was down by $40,000. Andy Hoadley, the student most fascinated by the market game, had a reaction many investors sympathize with.
``I jumped on my bed and screamed,'' he recalled, grinning impishly. For practically the entire spring semester, Andy walked around trailing market reports, putting them away in his desk only when teachers asked and sneaking them back out when no one was looking.
Andy, Lindsey Foy, Brittany Gleason, Ryan Otey, Cameron Jones and Krysta Elmore flew to the heart of the nation's financial district recently for a VIP tour of the stock market. The youngsters were impressed by the frantic activity on the trading floor.
``It looked like an anthill with the top cut off of it,'' said Ryan.
While at the Stock Exchange the children ate breakfast in the exclusive and elegantly appointed members' dining room. Barrett and the students' other advising teacher, Donna Eure, said that while they could have practically anything they wanted, all the children ordered cereal. Except Ryan, who asked for an omelette with everything in it.
After their tour they rode the New York subways, lunched at the Hard Rock Cafe and shopped. All bought clothes. The six children arrived for their first-ever visit to the Big Apple dressed for success - in suits and business attire. They flew home in shorts, hats and Hard Rock T-shirts, their good clothes stuffed into shopping bags. The students got so caught up in sightseeing that they missed their bus back to the Newark airport.
``Mrs. Barrett got real mad,'' said Brittany, grinning. ``But we wanted to spend the night.''
Andy, who, teachers say, lived, breathed and ate the stock market for the 10 weeks of the game, has learned valuable lessons about economics and investing:
Buy few stocks but many shares.
Have a good stockbroker.
Check the papers every day.
``And do your research and know what you're doing. Don't just blow all your money away,'' said the 11-year-old. by CNB