The volatile stock market is providing valuable lessons for aspiring investors such as college student Chris Stallman.

The 2005 graduate of the Academy of Richmond County is the president of the University of Georgia's Student Managed Investment Fund, a highly competitive program that allows students to invest in the stock market.

Mr. Stallman, 22, developed an interest in finance at a young age, investing play money in simulations as early as middle school, but the student-managed fund teaches something that simulations and classrooms can't teach -- risk.

In the games, he quickly learned that the best chance of winning came from directing all of his "money" to the riskiest investments in hopes of hitting it big. If he lost it all, there was little consequence

"You can learn the concepts in class, but it's a lot more interesting when you have the opportunity to take the skills you've learned and see how effective you are at applying those skills," Mr. Stallman said.

Those skills are particularly needed in today's economy, he said.

"This is really giving us perspective on going and finding solid companies because in a real bull market you can invest in weak companies and still have good returns, but in a market like this it's very important to find strong companies with good balance sheets that are going to be able to maintain their income stream and cash flow for an extended period time despite the market downturn," Mr. Stallman said.

Like most investors, those in the UGA student fund have lost money, although the fund has outperformed the S&P 500 Index, said Darren Devore, the UGA business graduate who contributed $100,000 to start the fund.

Mr. Devore, who managed a student fund while in college and has spent 23 years in the investment industry, said the experience students are getting with the UGA fund will benefit their careers.

"I think that the benefits they're getting in experiencing markets like this, if they do choose to enter the investment field, I think it's going to make them better investors, I think it's going to make them better people, and they'll probably do better jobs for their clients," he said.

Students who participate in the UGA program tend to get jobs in leading investment and research firms on Wall Street and across the country, he said.

"What I've been told by students is when they go into an interview, the first thing potential recruiters want to talk about is, 'Tell me about this student-managed investment fund,' " Mr. Devore said. "And so, in that regard, it is accomplishing exactly what I had hoped."

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.