BHSU announces South Dakota Stock Market Game top teams for fall trading session

The 2017 fall session of the South Dakota Stock Market Game (SDSMG) hosted by Black Hills State University concluded with students at Mellette Middle School, Rapid City Stevens High School, and BHSU taking top honors. During this session, 362 students from 20 South Dakota schools formed 160 teams of stock market investors. Each team received a hypothetical $100,000 to perform online investing in real-time stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

Mellette’s Northwestern Middle School won the middle school division with a final portfolio of $110,354. Shelley Fischbach, teacher at Northwestern Middle School, used the program in her math class.

With 91 teams, the high school division was the largest in the session. Rapid City Stevens High School took the division with a final portfolio value of $111,760 and an 11.17 percent return on investment. For comparison purposes, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 4.2 percent over this same time period. Darren Paulsen, teacher at Stevens High School, facilitated the program in his economics finance class.

BHSU mass communication major Micalyn Parry, from Chino, Ariz., won the college division with a final portfolio value of $115,833. This was the highest portfolio in South Dakota., with a return on investment of 15.8 percent in ten weeks. Parry participated in the program as part of her survey of business course.

The program’s carefully integrated curriculum lets students experience the financial markets in the classroom as they learn about business, math, economics, personal finance, and the importance of saving and investing for the long term. Student teams compete for prizes in the high school, middle school, and college divisions. Teachers take part in a free online training and receive weekly newsletters on economic, business, and personal finance topics to use in the classroom.

The BHSU Center for Economic Education has an exclusive license to operate the SMG program in S.D. with the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). The SMG program is widely identified as the leader in youth financial education and the only program proven in rigorous, independent studies year-after-year to raise math and financial literacy test scores and to change financial behavior for the better for students and teachers.

Over 600,000 students from all 50 states participate in the SMG each year. The program includes InvestWrite, a national essay competition that is the culminating SMG activity. Students are challenged to think critically about real-world financial issues by preparing essays about long-term saving and investing. Winners receive a paid trip to New York City and a visit to the New York Stock Exchange. 

The SDSMG is sponsored by the BHSU Center for Economic Education, SIFMA, and the South Dakota Council on Economic Education. The South Dakota Council on Economic Education oversees two Centers for Economic Education in the state: BHSU in Spearfish and USD in Vermillion.

The spring 2018 SDSMG session starts on Feb. 5, and registration begins on Jan. 2, 2018.  To register, visit www.stockmarketgame.org

For more information, contact Professor Don Altmyer, BHSU Center for Economic Education Director and South Dakota Stock Market Game Coordinator, at (605) 642-6266 or email Donald.Altmyer@BHSU.edu