NMHZ sixth-graders dive into districtwide CTE Stock Market Challenge

Sixth-graders at Nelson Mandela / Dr. Hosea Zollicoffer School were fully invested Wednesday morning – at least virtually – as the school joined the districtwide CTE Stock Market Challenge and the students began trading with $100,000 in mock funds.

Under the guidance of teacher Vito DiMatteo, the budding traders logged onto StockMarketGame.org, checked publicly traded stocks in real time and began making investment decisions using their simulated portfolios.

This is the first year the contest has been played at Nelson Mandela and the first time it has been opened to sixth-graders across the District.

“See how much money you have on the sidelines,” Mr. DiMatteo told students as they debated stocks and reacted to the volatile market’s ups and downs. “If you’ve got $90,000 sitting there, it’s time to start thinking — what company do you believe in?”

The lesson is part of a larger competition coordinated by Brian Simmons, the Mount Vernon City School District’s director of Career and Technical Education, who was on hand to assist students during the class.

“The CTE Department is proud to bring back the wildly popular CTE Stock Market Challenge and expand this exciting learning opportunity to elementary schools,” he said. “It’s thrilling to watch sixth-graders go head-to-head with high school students, showcasing the power and impact of early financial literacy education.”

Mr. Simmons said the challenge builds on last year’s success, when schools across the District competed for bragging rights and a traveling trophy. He praised the expansion of the program, calling it a powerful example of early financial education in action.

Last year’s inaugural competition was introduced by Caterina DiPaola, a CFM teacher at Graham School. It was limited to Career and Financial Management classes and was won by the former Mount Vernon Leadership Academy.

This year, the program has expanded to include sixth-graders for the first time and now features nine participating schools: Mount Vernon High School, STEAM Academy, Denzel Washington School of the Arts, Pennington School, Benjamin Turner Academy, Graham School, Lincoln School, NMHZ and Grimes School.

The new champions will earn a pizza party and take possession of the CTE Stock Market Championship trophy, which is currently housed at the Benjamin Turner Academy.

Students compete using the Stock Market Game, an investing simulation endorsed by NASDAQ that places them alongside schools from across New York State. Each participant starts with the same virtual funds and a three-month window to grow, or shrink, their portfolio.

For many students, the experience was both educational and exciting.

“I’m trying to buy tech, because a lot of people are indoors and Netflix and tech are doing pretty good,” student Julius Rogers said. “I enjoy having the adrenaline of it going up and then realizing it just flopped down. It’s pretty fun.”

Classmate Osiris Warren said the game helped him understand timing and risk.

“I usually buy when they’re down in the red, then wait for them to go back up,” he explained. “It’s nerve-wracking, but it teaches kids about risk and different things about stock trading.”

Brielle Brown took a more personal approach to her picks. “I bought Amazon and Chipotle — I love Chipotle and I love Amazon!” she exclaimed. “It feels like I’m playing for the future.”

Mr. DiMatteo said the program is about more than winning.

“It’s financial literacy,” he said. “Students use real-life current events to understand why stocks go up or down. Every student starts with the same amount of money and the same time frame. What matters is how they think, how they decide and what they learn along the way.”

The students will continue tracking their investments in the next few months as they learn a valuable lesson in how strategy, patience and real-world events can shape financial outcomes. The championship trophy is the icing on the cake.