SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation Announce the Top 10 Winners of the 14^th Annual Stock Market Game^™ Capitol Hill Challenge and Congratulate all Participants

Top 10 Schools to Travel to Washington, DC for an Awards Reception on Capitol Hill

Washington, DC, May 24, 2017– SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation today congratulate all the participants of the 14th Annual Stock Market Game^™– Capitol Hill Challenge^™ (CHC) national program and announce the 10 teams who have won a trip to Washington, DC, and will be recognized at an Awards Reception on June 21th at 4:30pm in 2044 Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

“Congratulations to all the participants of this year’s Capitol Hill Challenge,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO. “For the fourth consecutive year, 100% of Congress participated and SIFMA commends the members of Congress who took the time to visit their local schools and engage with students on financial education and role of government in our capital markets.”

This 14-week challenge organizes teams of middle and high school students by congressional district and state and teaches the importance of saving and investing, while simultaneously promoting a better understanding of our government. Teams invest a hypothetical $100,000 in listed stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and learn the value of the capital markets as they work together to maximize the return of their portfolios.

Since the Capitol Hill Challenge began in 2004, 3,800 matches have been made between Members of Congress and schools in their districts, reaching 103,000 students. Middle and high school students from all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia are participating in this year’s competition.

 

“This program provides critical educational experiences to young people across America, emphasizing underserved schools and enabling students who otherwise might not be exposed to the capital markets to gain insights that lead to their success,” said Melanie Mortimer, president of the SIFMA Foundation. “Capitol Hill Challenge students experience the positive compounding effect of understanding from an early age how finance, civics and government touch their lives.”
The competition uses the SIFMA Foundation’s curriculum-based Stock Market Game to help students develop a better understanding of the global economy, become college and career ready, and improve their knowledge of math, economics, and business. The program is proven to raise student scores on tests of mathematics, economics and financial knowledge. It is also proven to positively impact students’ and teachers’ personal financial behavior.

Founded in 1977 by academics at Buffalo State, The Stock Market Game has since expanded through a national network of educational nonprofit organizations to reach 16 million students. An independent study by Learning Point Associates found that students who participated in the Stock Market Game scored significantly higher on mathematics and financial literacy tests than their peers who did not participate. They also found that teachers who taught the Stock Market Game reported that the program motivated them to better plan for their own financial futures. The Stock Market Game has been named the only program that successfully increased scores on the Jumpstart Coalition’s test of high school students’ financial literacy.

The Capitol Hill Challenge is just one component of the Stock Market Game, which operates in all 50 states. The program has significant benefits including professional development opportunities for teachers, teamwork and confidence building for students, reinforcement of students’ technology and online research skills (the trading simulation is online). The program improves students’ and teachers’ financial knowledge and behavior and fulfills national standards and state-level subject matter requirements in ELA, Math, Social Studies, Business, Economics, Technology, and Consumer Science.

Top 10 Schools:

1. Montgomery Area High School     PA     Tom Marino
2. York Community High School     IL      Raja Krishnamoorthi
3. International Academy     MI     Sander Levin
4. South Point High School     NC    Senator Thom Tillis
5. Earl L. Vandermeulen High School NY Lee Zeldin
6. Normal Community High School IL     Darin LaHood
7. Parkview High School     GA    Senator Johnny Isakson
8. Jordan-Small Middle School     ME    Chellie Pingree
9. Kinsley Jr/Sr High School     KS     Senator Pat Roberts
10. Dinuba High School     CA     Devin Nunes

To learn more about the program, visit the SIFMA Foundation’s website: www.sifma.org/chc.

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About SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game^™

SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game is a curriculum-based program where student teams in grades 4-12 learn about the global marketplace and long-term saving and investing fundamentals by using a hypothetical brokerage account. The program serves 15,000 teachers and 600,000 students annually. Teachers receive professional development and grade-level specific curriculum guides, lesson plans and newsletters to incorporate the program into their core mathematics, social studies, business, economics and language arts programs. For more on the Stock Market Game please visit: http://www.stockmarketgame.org.

 

About the SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education

The SIFMA Foundation is dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of the financial markets for individuals of all backgrounds, with a focus on youth.  Drawing on the support and expertise of the financial industry, the SIFMA Foundation provides financial education programs and tools that strengthen economic opportunities across communities and increase individuals’ access to the benefits of the global marketplace. Notable Foundation programs include The Stock Market Game, which has reached 16 million students since it began in 1977, the InvestWrite national essay competition, the Capitol Hill Challenge, and Invest It Forward. For more information on the work of the SIFMA Foundation, visit http://www.sifma.org/foundation.

About SIFMA

SIFMA is the voice of the U.S. securities industry. We represent the broker-dealers, banks and asset managers whose nearly 1 million employees provide access to the capital markets, raising over $2.5 trillion for businesses and municipalities in the U.S., serving clients with over $18.5 trillion in assets and managing more than $67 trillion in assets for individual and institutional clients including mutual funds and retirement plans. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.