Six (6) New Jersey Schools to Participate in ‘The Capitol Hill Challenge Stock Market Game’

A program of the SIFMA Foundation and NJCFE Partner

 

The Program

The Capitol Hill Challenge (CHC), is a special edition of SIFMA Foundation’s educational program, The Stock Market Game^™ (SMG) that shares with Members of Congress real-time examples of students benefitting from the program in their respective district or state.  Since its inception in 2004, CHC has engaged 239 U.S. Representatives and 112 U.S. Senators with over 5,000 students across the country. The program takes place every spring with student teams managing a hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio, investing in real stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The classroom learning focuses on the importance of long-term saving and investing. CHC acknowledges the accomplishment of the first-place team and their teacher with a trip to Washington D.C. to meet their Member of Congress and tour financial landmarks and national monuments.

 

The Value

The CHC SMG helps keep Members of Congress informed about advances that students in their district make each year through The Stock Market Game, including better understanding the global economy, developing personal financial skills, and improving their knowledge of math, economics and business. It also exposes them to SIFMA Foundation’s broader financial and investor education efforts as well as the myriad individual contributions of SIFMA member firms and their employees. For example, Members of Congress learn that:

• Financial advisors from SIFMA member firms visit classrooms to discuss the global economy and the basics of long-term saving and investing
• Students visit operations and trading facilities at SIFMA member firms
• Market analysts speak at teacher training events on current economic trends
• Industry professionals volunteer as judges in the SMG’s national essay contest, InvestWrite
• Independent research shows that the SMG program improves student test scores in math, financial knowledge and economics.

 

New Jersey Schools participating in 2010

Representative	John	Adler	D-3rd	NJ	Pinelands Regional HS
Representative	Robert E.	Andrews	D-1st	NJ	Camden Co Tech HS
Representative	Leonard	Lance	R-7th	NJ	John F. Kennedy Memorial
Senator	Robert	Menendez	D	NJ	Dwight Morrow/ Academies
Representative	Donald M.	Payne	D-10th	NJ	Malcolm X Shabazz
Representative	Albio	Sires	D-13th	NJ	Technology HS

 

 

The Capitol Hill Challenge also provides Members of Congress an opportunity to visit the schools in their home states or districts to witness the valuable academic and life lessons students learn from the SIFMA Foundation’s SMG program – and to inspire and serve as role models for the students.

 

A History of Champions

Year	Winning School	Member of Congress Represented	State
2004	West Chicago Community High School	Speaker Dennis Hastert	IL
2005	Chilton County High School	Representative Spencer Bachus	AL
2006	Blackman High School	Representative Bart Gordon	TN
2007	Valley High School	Senator Charles Grassley	IA
2008	Riverton High School	Senator Robert Bennett	UT
2009	Christian Academy of Louisville High School	Senator Jim Bunning	KY

 

The 2010 Capitol Hill Challenge

In 2010, CHC is reaching out to a variety of Members of Congress, including those in the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. One hundred and fifty six teachers will be invited to participate in the spring 2010 CHC program. CHC will be offered as a 14 week competition beginning February 1 and ending May 7, 2010. To learn more about CHC, contact Ed Shovar at 202-962-7449 or eshovar@sifma.org.