Holy Family Academy Students Win in State-wide Stock Market Game

Holy Family Catholic Academy middle school students took Third Place in the state during the Spring semester of The Stock Market Game.™This online game developed by Econ Illinois is designed to teach financial literacy by engaging students in researching companies and making sound investment decisions. This year, over 12,000 students participated throughout the state.

Holy Family Academy’s middle school team of Kate Bodensteiner, 7th grade; Cameron Dunne, 6th grade; Angelo Grossi, 8th grade; and Michael Ruben, 6th grade, competed against 630 teams in the grade 4-8 bracket. Each team was given a virtual cash account of $100,000 with which they created and managed an investment portfolio using real-time prices. Holy Family’s team returned 9% above the S&P index on their investments.

Participation in the online simulation was part of Holy Family’s middle school STEM curriculum. Throughout the year, their innovative program engages students in a “hands-on, minds-on” study of engineering, physics and financial literacy using curriculum developed by INTEL, the University of Virginia, NASA and Econ Illinois.

“Teaching students about finance is so important in preparing them for their future, but equally important is preparing our learners to be both leaders and members of teams.” states Mrs. Mary Scott, CPA, MBA and Math and STEM instructor. Holy Family Academy, nationally recognized as a Catholic School for Tomorrow for Innovation in Curriculum and Instruction seeks to develop teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving skills in all of its nearly 450 students in preschool through Grade 8.

Life in the 21st century requires both technical and teamwork skills to successfully work with people from across the globe. “Our approach to collaboration and team work at Holy Family emphasizes respect, empathy and consideration among team members. We believe these attributes can lead to increased motivation, innovation, creativity and success of the team,” states Mrs. Roberta Muran, Middle School Faculty Team Leader.

Clearly, a life skill that will pay dividends throughout the lives of these young students.