Simulating the Stock Market: Homestead’s Investing Club

The United States stock market is a volatile exchange system in which holders are able to obtain a share of a public company. The ability of someone to predict gains in a stock can only be described as an educated guess. Homestead’s Investing Club has decided to simulate this experience through the Market Watch Stock Simulator program.

The Market Watch program gives one a starting loan of $10,000; the holder is then given the opportunity to invest in whatever company they see fit. The simulator follows the real stock market and gives students accurate information about how much money they would gain or lose if they invested in the real world. Mr. Garrett Sterken, the club advisor and Homestead’s business teacher, helped create the club. He applauds the idea as an educational initiative that has legitimate application to reality. “This is just an excellent way to grow the knowledge of business and investing; it’s a way to invest without actually putting money in the game.”

In addition to Sterken, the founders of the Investing Club are also proud of the organization’s progress. Joseph Nelson, junior, one of the founders of the Investing Club; he initially came up with the idea of creating this group since he was interested in learning more about the stock market. He further claims that gaining such an experience outside of the classroom has been very valuable. “I love being part of the club because we’re all interested in learning more about finances and how the stock market works,” Nelson said.

The game also ranks the student participants based on their gains. As of recently, Sam Griswold, junior, has been around 15th place out of 23 members. Much like Nelson, Griswold has embraced this learning opportunity. “I think it’s cool to learn about the stock market and how to invest. There is also an aspect of competitiveness to the club which makes the whole thing more interesting,” Griswold said.

Currently, about a third of the members are losing money; however, the top player, Colin Satchie, sophomore, has overall returns of around 36%. The game will end in a month, yet the future of the stock market remains unknown.