Student investors' choice of beer wins them state contest

Want the secret to beating the Standard & Poor's 500 in the stock market?

Budweiser.

After conjecturing that the economy might drive droves to drink, South Elgin High School seniors Alex Walter, Kristen Haney and Erin Ochoa learned this week that they placed first among 278 other student teams in the Stock Market Game, an online investing competition coordinated by the Illinois Council on Economic Education.

A component of South Elgin's senior economics course, teams begin the competition with a virtual cash account, with which they create and manage a portfolio of stocks, mutual funds and bonds. Charting their investments, reading financial articles and conducting research are all part of the game.

South Elgin joined the competition last fall, economics teacher Lisa Olsem said. It is currently the only Elgin Area School District U-46 high school to participate.

In such shaky economic times, she said, "we talked a lot about looking for stocks and companies that are needs versus wants, things that are relevant."

As a result, Olsem said, many students invested in value products like fast foods and soup.

And affordable American lagers.

Walter, Haney, and Ochoa chose four stocks to invest in: Best Buy, Nicor Gas, Toyota and Anheuser Busch.

All were chosen for a purpose.

Haney, of Elgin, works at Best Buy and wanted to watch how the company was doing over the holiday season. Nicor Gas, the team figured, was a solid investment with winter approaching. Toyota was picked for the popularity of its hybrid cards.

Watching the economy steadily worsen, "we figured it would make people drink," Ochoa, of Bartlett, said. When the company was purchased in November by Belgian brewer InBev, the team cashed in on the buyout.

Starting with $100,000 in early October, the trio ended the competition with a portfolio equity of $101,492.38, beating the S&P 500's performance by 32.6 percent in the same period.

Despite a plunging stock market, Olsem said she tried to reinforce to her students that it was important to hold onto their stocks.

"They shouldn't be trading every other minute," Olsem said. "We really tied it into this whole unit on savings and investing."

Teams checked on their investments each week in the school's computer lab.

Another team at South Elgin, composed of seniors Beth Adamowski, Angela Wieszchowski, and Kim Wieszchowski, came in second place.

Both teams received certificates for their efforts.

Teachers of the top teams will receive cash awards, according to a news release.

"We just kind of held on to what we had," Ochoa said. "This strategy seemed to work for us ... though I'm definitely glad it's not real money."