Club Teams Take Top Places
in Stock Market Game
Two teams of students in Mars Area Centennial School’s
Stock Market Club placed in the Elementary School Division
of the 2017 SIFMA Foundation Erie/Western Pennsylvania
Stock Market Game Fall Session.
The team of fifth-graders Miles Frazier, Carson Mahan
and Connor McKotch took first place. With an initial
investment of $100,000, the team earned a $5,750.48 in net
equity gain, a 5.75 percent return.
The team of fifth-graders Ryan Babeo, Kendall Bruns
and Maxwell Zagorski received second place. With an initial
investment of $100,000, the team earned a $5,011.72 in net
equity gain, a 5.01 percent return.
Mars Area Centennial School debuted its Stock Market
Club earlier this school year, offering participants an
introduction to the fundamentals of investing. Members
met before school every Tuesday to participate in The Stock
Market Game, an online simulation of the global capital
markets that engages students in the world of economics,
investing and personal finance.
As part of the game, students are asked to invest a
virtual $100,000 in stocks, bonds and mutual funds; then, to
monitor and adjust their investment portfolios, as needed,
said Brittnee Madigan, fifth grade teacher and club sponsor.
The Mars Area Centennial School Stock Market Club teams of
Carson Mahan, Miles Frazier and Connor McKotch and Kendall
Bruns, Ryan Babeo and Maxwell Zagorski took first and second
place, respectively, in the Elementary School Division of the
2017 SIFMA Foundation Erie/Western Pennsylvania Stock
Market Game Fall Session.
The goal of the program was to prepare the students
for financially independent futures through real-world
practice.
In addition to participating in The Stock Market
Game, club members discuss various topics related to
investing and the stock market. Topics included shares;
stockholders; ticker symbols; diversifying; private and
public companies; and more.
For more information, contact Madigan at
724.625.2601 or visit smgww.org.
Seventh-grader Wins
Annual School Geography Bee
Mars Area seventh-grader Cole Winstead
earned first place in the 2017-2018 Mars Area
Geography Bee Final Round Qualifier, held Dec.
20 at Mars Area Centennial School.
Eighth-grader Christopher Dvorak took
second and seventh-grader Charlie Stoops
received third place.
Other participants were eighth-graders
Audrey Milk, Edward Page, Gillian Porter
and Alexa Raabe; seventh-graders Evan Peaco,
Samuel Schultz, John Sutton and Armando Vargo; and sixth-grader Jennifer Morrison.
Winstead will now complete a written exam that will be mailed to the Pennsylvania State
Geography Bee, which will notify him as to whether he has qualified for the state contest on
Friday, April 6. The state winner will advance to the National Geography Bee competition, to be
held May 20 through 23 at The National Geographic Society headquarters (Washington, D.C.).
Prior to the final round qualifier, all students at Mars Area Middle School and Mars Area
Centennial School completed a 50-question, written geography exam based on the physical
and cultural geography of both the United States and the world during their social studies
classes.
The top 50 students who missed no more than eight questions then took a second round
exam in December. And, those students who missed no more than eight questions advanced
to the final round on Dec. 20.
For more information, contact Melinda Badger, event coordinator, at 724.625.2601 or visit
nationalgeographic.org/bee.
Cole Winstead
MARS AREA
❘
SPRING 2018
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