SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation Announce the Top 10 Winners of the 13th Annual Capitol Hill Challenge

Release Date: May 19, 2016
Contact: Carol Danko, 202.962.7390,cdanko@sifma.org

SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation Announce the Top 10 Winners of the 13^th Annual Stock Market Game^™ Capitol Hill Challengeand Congratulate all Participants

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

Washington, DC, May 18, 2016-SIFMA and the SIFMA Foundation today congratulate all the participants of the 13th Annual Stock Market Game^™-Capitol Hill Challenge^™ (CHC) national program and announce the 10 winning teamswho have wona trip to Washington, DC, and will be recognized at an Awards Reception on Capitol Hill on June15th.

“Congratulations to all the participants of this year’s Capitol Hill Challenge,” saidKenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO. “This year, for the third consecutive year, 100% of Congress participated and SIFMA gives special recognition to the over 60 members of Congress who took the time to visit their local schools and engage with the 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. Teamsinvest a hypothetical $100,000 in listedstocks, 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, 3,272 Members of Congress matches have been made to schools reaching 90,000 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. Anindependent 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 Capital Hill Challenge is just one component of the Stock Market Game, which operates in all 50 states. The program has significant benefits includingprofessional 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 andstate-level subject matter requirements in ELA, Math, Social Studies, Business, Economics, Technology, and Consumer Science.

Top 10 Schools:

To view the final rankings for the 2016 competition and to learn more about the Awards Reception, visit the SIFMA Foundation’s website: www.sifma.org/chc.