Seventh and eighth grade students at Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut are learning about the stock market, different ways to invest and the importance of knowing about compound interest, dividends and the benefits of having a diverse portfolio.

“The students have been ‘given’ $100,000 to invest,” said Mr. Darren Bahar, who is leading this effort for middle school classes at BCHA. One of BCHA’s students, Daniella R., an 8th grader, is in first place in the region. Given $100,000 to invest, she has already made an astonishing $22,000 in a month.

The stock market game is open to public and private schools all over the country. Daniella is ranked number one in our region, and in the whole country she is ranked number two.

Students have enjoyed participating in the game for the past five years.

“What I love about it is that students are really learning about the power of investing,” remarked Mr. Bahar. “Win or lose, this early education will set them up as future investors.”

Mr. Bahar also spoke about the value of learning these skills at such an early age. “What I also enjoy from a math perspective is just how useful math is, the formulas we use to figure out the value of money are formulas I didn’t learn until college!”

The Stock Market game continues through the end of May, when final rankings will be announced.