Submitted

All four teams at O’Loughlin Elementary School placed in the top 15 of the Kansas Stock Market Game’s 10-week spring session that ended April 22, 2016.

Fifth grade class 5B, self-named “The Billionaires,” is the state champion, placing first out of 111 teams that competed at the elementary level across Kansas.

Along with a well-diversified portfolio, student Quinton McGuire’s investment in Marathon Oil (MRO) gained the most for this team. He bought nearly 500 shares of MRO at $8.10 each which quickly grew to $14.34 per share.

Each team got $100,000 symbolic dollars to invest (approximately $4,000 per student), and each student got to analyze and pick which company they wanted to invest in.

O’Loughlin started the game two weeks late so in only eight short weeks, The Billionaires ended the game with a 4.87% gain of $4,868.

Fourth grade class 4B, the self-named “Tech Warriors”, came in right behind 5B with a strong second place finish.

Along with a well-diversified portfolio of 11 stocks including Apple, Home Depot and McDonald’s, they also chose to retain 23% of their equity in interest-earning cash, ending the game with a 4.67% gain of $4,665, only $203 behind first place.

Fifth grade class 5A “Tech Eagles” finished in fifth place and fourth grade class 4A “Fort Hays Tigers” finished in 15th place, with gains of $3,872 and $2,180 respectively.

O’Loughlin’s top two teams received invitations to the 2016 KCEE Regional Awards Dinner, but since the event takes place after the last day of school, students are celebrating locally with a picnic party during class.

In addition to the class party, each student in the top 5% gets their choice of a prize (drawstring backpack or t-shirt) sponsored by the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner’s Investor Education & Protection Fund, the Cloud L. Cray Foundation, and the Kansas Council for Economic Education (KCEE) Donors.

“Students learned the stock market can be volatile, up one day and down the next,” O’Loughlin technology teacher Starla Gano said in a news release. “So we celebrated our little victories along the way with weekly rankings while learning the fundamentals of investing and real world skills in technology, math, social studies, and economics.

“Considering this was our first time to play the Kansas Stock Market Game, we are very excited to have all four O’Loughlin teams place in the Top 15 statewide,” said Gano.

For more information about the Kansas Stock Market game, visit http://kansas.councilforeconed.org/ and http://stockmarketgame.org.