They're more likely to watch MTV than Bloomberg Television, but a number of area middle and high school pupils managed to turn a profit on stocks during last year's dismal bear market.
That's no small feat, considering that 2002 capped off the worst three-year period for the country's stock market since 1941.
Twice a year, the Georgia Council on Economic Education organizes a 10-week stock market game for public and private school pupils statewide. Teams of up to five pupils invest a $100,000 portfolio in imaginary money on publicly traded stocks.
Aquinas High School senior Mike Hartley wanted to buy 5,000 shares of Boston Celtics stock for his five-member team.
Not even a Celtics fan, Mike said his logic was that the NBA season would start during the investing competition and the Beantown basketball team's stock might increase if it won games.
"We made fun of him for a little while," said Tim Redd, Mike's team member.
When a private investment group purchased the Celtics in September and bought back the stocks for $25 a share, though, Aquinas' team was suddenly rolling in pretend profits.
Largely because of the lucky break, the team ended up with $59,000 more than it started and became a regional winner for private schools in northeast Georgia.
An awards ceremony in Atlanta is being held in May for the regional winners.
Competition runs high among classmates when they start tracking daily gains and losses, said Sherry Fleming, an economics teacher at A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet High School.
"Students at lunchtime will go to the library to check their stocks," she said.
Her pupils, who won the Richmond County division, looked for technology companies whose stock prices had slumped.
"Our strategy was to buy low and ride the bull," A.R. Johnson junior Wei Chen said.
The bull never came charging in, but among other picks, Wei's team made $48,000.
"I enjoyed playing the game because I could invest money without worrying about really going broke," he said. "I know that someday I will be able to use this knowledge with real investments."
Here are the area's regional winners for the fall round of the Georgia Council on Economic Education's stock market simulation, in which middle and high school pupils invest $100,000 over 10 weeks:
AQUINAS HIGH SCHOOL
Region: Northeast Georgia Private School Division
Teacher: Amy Hennessy
Team members: Mike Hartley, Brigid McArdle, Tim Redd, Danny Matta, Felix Schippmann
Selected stocks: Boston Celtics Limited Partnership, AOL Time Warner, Motorola Inc.
End value of portfolio: $159,102
A.R. JOHNSON HEALTH SCIENCE & ENGINEERING MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL
Region: Richmond County
Teacher: Sherry Fleming
Team members: Wei Chen, William Long, Robert Greene, Steven McCraney, Richard Wirth
Selected stocks: Yahoo Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., MCG Capital Corp., Nautica Enterprises Inc., SPX Corp., VeriSign Inc.
End value of portfolio: $148,156
GREENBRIER MIDDLE SCHOOL
Region: Columbia County
Teacher: Sheila Francoeur
Team members: Tiffany Adams, Michelle Swiec, Lillian Zamcnik
Selected stocks: 3M Co., Lexmark International Inc., Station Casinos Inc.
End value of portfolio: $122,183
BURKE COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL
Region: Burke County
Teacher: Sherri Moore
Team members: Ciara Dukes, Krissie Flakes, Kenyari Grubbs, Megan Hillis, and Donnesha Kelley
Selected stocks: Procter & Gamble, Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Claire's Stores Inc., Aeropostale Inc.
End value of portfolio: $104,927
THOMSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Region: McDuffie County
Teacher: Julie Gerlach
Team members: Luke Kellogg, Kristen Love, Scott McClure, Kennedy Cowart
Selected stocks: Coach Inc., Alaska Airlines
End value of portfolio: $103,126
Reach Vicky Eckenrode at (706) 823-3227 or vicky.eckenrode@augustachronicle.com.
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