Video: Milam Students Learn About Picking Stocks In Statewide Contest

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TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Students at one Northeast Mississippi school are learning all about the S and P 500, the Nasdaq and other terms associated with the stock market.
WCBI’s Allie Martin has more on a class that could pay big dividends in the future for the students.

Since September, students in the Gifted Classes at Milam Elementary have built their portfolios, traded stocks and learned all about the ups and downs of the market.

“Each team, about 3 or 4 students a team, get a hundred thousand dollars, and they get to invest in any stock they would like to,” said Teacher Elise Otis.

The students are competing in the Mississippi Stock Market Game. Although it is not real money, the teams track their investments daily and discover how current events impact stock prices.

“At the start, Netflix was going up really well, it actually went to 130 last week but it started to kind of plummet down, now Smith and Wesson is a top stock. I think it’s because of the terrorist attacks around the world,” said student Zack Overton.

“I have learned a lot, I had no clue what to do with stock, I had never learned about stock in my life , the first time I was here, I have learned a lot more cause the first test we took I made a really bad grade on it and the test we just took I did a lot better,” said student Emily Parnell.

Their teacher hopes students not only do good on this contest, but also learn valuable lessons they can use later in life.

“Hopefully they are going to learn that investing can really pay off in the future,” Otis said.

The young investors will find out how they did in the statewide competition at the end of this week.

The contest continues in the spring. By the way, as of this morning, Milam held the top five spots in the contest.