Three Don Tyson School of Innovation students won a statewide stock market game, gaining the critical edge in the competition by using a computer code written by a team member.
“It was a very exciting moment for all of us,” said Logan Roberts, DTSOI Stock Market Game team member.
Sophomores Roberts, Daniel Paxton and Bruce Quayle took first place in the 2022-23 Security/Financial Market Association Foundation Stock Market Game, earning $40,000 on simulated stock investments.
The SIFMA Foundation Stock Market Game is an online simulation of the global capital markets that engages students in grades 4-12 in economics, investing and personal finance, according to the Stock Market Game website. The game has prepared about 20 million students for financially independent futures.
The game was featured as part of Sarah Skelton’s College and Career Readiness classes. The class is required for all DTSOI students, with each grade level having different embedded graduation requirements and subjects.
“The idea is that we prepare them to be successful outside of high school, but then also make sure they are meeting those graduation requirements,” Skelton said. “Everybody participated, but these guys definitely took it a step further and really took the initiative to go above and beyond.”
The contest began in October and ended in April, said Bruce Quayle, DTSOI Stock Market Game team member.
Students begin the game with $100,000 and use the “money” to generate the most income over a simulated S&P 500, Paxton said.
The S&P 500 is the market indicator most professional investors use to determine how stocks are performing. It encompasses the top companies in leading U.S. industries.
The team earned a 40% return on their investment, winning the game with $140,000, Paxton said.
“Your goal by the end of April is to have the most money out of everyone else participating,” Paxton said.
DTSOI students Kevin Perez Albarran, Jesse Turnage and Aiden Prepster took second place with about $137,454, Skelton said. A team from Southside High School in Fort Smith claimed third with about $128,749.
A code written by Paxton helped the team get an edge over their competitors, Paxton said.
“I completely wrote the code from scratch,” he said. “It would basically pick two stocks that were fundamentally similar, let's say Target and Costco, because they're basically almost the same stores.”
Anything good that happens financially to Costco will most likely happen to Target as well due to their similarities, he explained. There will, however, be slight discrepancies.
“That's how we made our advantage,” Paxton said. “We found the discrepancies between these two stocks, and we shorted one and bought the other and then waited for them to converge, and that's when we took our profit.”
The process is completely on the up-and-up and is a method Paxton said he uses to help his parents make personal investments, although more conservatively than the team did with fictitious money.
The students competed against 387 teams statewide, Skelton said, adding their win is wholly theirs to claim.
“I have taught high school for the past 10 years, and we have never experienced a group quite like this,” Skelton said. “The only credit I can take is that I signed them up, and I gave them the login password.”
The team won $125 to share, medals and a banner to hang at the school, she said.
Paxton said he may want to pursue a career in financial engineering to make investments using statistics, computer science and finance. He’s always wanted to New York University.
“I want to pursue mechanical engineering or computer sciences,” Roberts said, adding game development is a pastime he enjoys. He hopes to perhaps attend a college like Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Quayle said he’s planning a career as a U.S. Marine officer and recently visited the nation's military academies as he considers options for his future.
“I am so highly impressed, and I think everybody should see and hear what these guys are doing,” Skelton said of the 16-year-olds. “They're still kids. They’re 10th grade students,” she exclaimed.
Two Springdale elementary schools also participated in regional Stock Market Game competitions. Jim D. Rollins School of Innovation earned first place in the 2023 Regional Fall competition at DTSOI, and Shaw Elementary School earned first place in the 2023 Regional Spring competition at Hendrix College, in Conway.
