This spring, Reynolds High School students had the opportunity to risk big with fake money.
Ted Batts financial math class at Reynolds competed in The Stock Market Game, a virtual simulation of stock market investment supported through the Oregon Council for Economic Education.
Two of his students, Josh Minter and Pickett Brault, juniors, placed second statewide out of more than 200 teams. Each team across the state had $100,000 of fake money to invest.
Minter and Brault earned more than $17,000 on an investment of $100,000, or 17 percent in just over two months.
Theres really no other way you can learn about this than real life, Brault said. Being able to do it with fake money and learn along the way is really great. We learned its OK to gamble, but dont gamble too much. Things can fluctuate overnight.
Minter and Brault kicked off the game by picking stocks that affected their everyday life, such as Facebook. Of their investments, Target, JP Morgan and Wal-Mart were the most successful.
This is the second year Batts students have competed in The Stock Market Game, and the first time theyve placed in the top tier of state competitors.