The 2020 fall session of the South Dakota Stock Market Game concluded its 10-week trading period on Friday, December 11.  The winner of the High School Division was Rapid City Stevens High School! Three other SHS teams placed in the top 10.

 

A total of 312 students from 13 high schools, middle schools and colleges across South Dakota formed 141 teams of stock market investors.  The program provides teams of student stock market investors a hypothetical $100,000 to perform online investing in real-time stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  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.

 

Teacher Darren Paulsen used the program in his Economics class.  His winning team had a 29.13 percent return on investment.  For comparison purposes, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 8.8 percent over this same time-period.  The team’s winning stock trade was buying Tesla (TSLA) at $ 432 per share and selling them for $ $ 603 per share for a realized gain of $ 11,975.

 

The SD SMG program provides teachers with online support during each trading session and free online training prior to and during each session.  During the 10-week session, teachers receive weekly newsletters on economic, business and personal finance topics to integrate the program into a variety of grade levels and subjects.

 

The South Dakota Stock Market Game has been delivered by Black Hills State University through the Center for Economic Education since 1994.  The Black Hills State University Center for Economic Education has an exclusive license to operate the SMG program in South Dakota with the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).