THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9406150199
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHARON LaROWE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940616 LENGTH: Medium
``They did not lack of confidence,'' said Pitt, who's also chairman of the mathematics department at Maury. The team placed first regionally, beating 277 other teams.
{REST} The game is set up by the Council of Economic Education and sponsored by groups like Wheat First Butcher Singer.
Juniors Kristin Mayer, Tiff Hagan, Clark Avery, Heather Morris, Christopher Cobb and senior Tiffany Massey started with a mock $100,000. They took the option to borrow another $100,000, invested it, and earned $10,800 by the end of the 10-week game.
The Stock Market Game is ``kinda like playing on paper,'' Christopher Cobb said.
But while play money replaces cold cash, Robert Thorndike, vice president of Wheat First Butcher Singer, said students from fourth grade through college who take part get the same investment options any real-life investor has.
``Take it from me, I've been doing this for 10 years, and this is as realistic as it gets,'' he said.
The Maury team studied its options before investing money. Though Cobb visited a stock broker to get tips on investments that never panned out, research proved to be their best asset. The young investors checked out trade publications like Barron's, Money, and Stock Market Magazine. Clarke Avery's father, a player in the real stock market, helped advise the students.
Hagan said the team's decision to sell short stocks in Galoob, a toy company, proved most profitable.
``I think they did a lot of careful research and they kept up with what their stocks were doing and took some risk. They short sold some stocks, which is a risky transaction, but they had done their homework.
``When most people were losing money, they made money,'' Pitt said.
Thorndike also praised their investment move. He explained short selling as a friend letting you rent his $5,000 car. If you wreck the car, you have to replace it with the same kind. But if you can make a lower bid with a dealer, purchasing another one for $4,000, you come out on top, $1,000 richer.
The students also invested in ALC Communications and Advanced Micro Devices. They charted their progress with weekly updates from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Taking part in the game has taken some of the mystery out of the stock market. ``I didn't know anything about it before and now at least I know a little more,'' Heather Morris said.
Most of the students said they plan on investing real money in the future.
For their efforts, the team won $500 to play the real stock market, and they were treated like royalty for a day with a stretch limo ride to Wheat First Butcher Singer, a tour of the investment facility and lunch at the Town Point Club.
While several students plan to buy something nice for themselves with their cut of the winnings, the majority want to reinvest their $83.
They feel there's nothing to lose if the real stock market takes a dive with their winnings, ``because it was a gift,'' Hagan said.
``You might as well lose it if you never had it,'' Cobb added, laughing.
Maury has a winning tradition with the Stock Market game. Two other teams in Pitt's classes took fourth and 11th place this spring. And last semester, another economics teacher, Karen Newton, had a team place second.
A team from Tantwood Elementary School in Virginia Beach took first place in the state, winning a trip to New York to see the Stock Exchange building.
by CNB