Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge

On November 8, 131 teams of high school students participated in the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, MA.   Most teams prepared for an extended period of time, but the three Westover teams from the Office Administration Trade signed up later in the process and only had two days to practice.  “Westover Job Corps made an excellent showing! Only Team 1 (#128) lost money, ending the game with -3.13% ROI, and both Team 2 (#129) and Team 3 (#130) ranked in 55th and 81st out of 131 teams. Not bad at all for only a couple of days practice!”, said Amy Alaimo of Junior Achievement.

Office Administration student Eddie Rivera age 21 from Bridgeport, CT said, “It was a really nice experience. To be honest it was something I never experienced before.  I heard how stocks work, not to sell too much and lose profits, and how to wait it out.  There were a lot of teams and good sportsmanship. I think everybody that went there had a really good time.”

Mari Gonzalez age 20 of New Haven, CT said, “It was intimidating.  There were a lot of people.   At first we were confused but once we got going and saw our numbers going up we were into it!”

Azalie Cruz, age 21 from Springfield said, “There was a lot of tension.  You want to know how it is going to turn out.”

Ian Martinez, age 18 from Stamford, CT said, “At first I didn’t like it but after seeing how the game went I found it interesting.  I found it to be very informative, to show what it would be like to be in the actual stock market.  I liked it!”  Special thanks to Ms. Maher and Mr. Abrams for setting this up, and a big thank you to Ms. Amy Alaimo for everything you did to make this happen.