What started as a mandatory assignment for AP Macroeconomics soon received state wide recognition. Beginning in September and ending in December, juniors Owen Wahlgren, Jacob Ridderhoff, Tyler Mertes and senior Eric Marcanio collaborated in a simulated stock game and became the most successful team of student investors in their region by winning the regional competition by approximately $5,000.

Social studies teacher Thomas Saam advises students participating in this statewide activity in his Macroeconomics and Personal Economics classes. Students utilize $100,000 to distribute among their stocks. This year, a total of 860 teams across Illinois participated.

“This is the most recognition that a single [AP Macroeconomics] group has earned at DGN in about 20 years,” Saam said.

Saam began running this activity when he started teaching at DGN in 2003. After teaching a few lessons that provide students with background on how to invest wisely, the students form groups and begin their project. The game is meant to help students build an understanding of investing while also giving them real world applications.

“This [game] is designed to teach students the importance of diversification, an important concept that we learn in my class,” Saam said.

Wahlgren, Ridderhoff, Mertes, and Marcanio divvied up their hypothetical funds among multiple stocks such as Apple, Tesla, and iRobot. Their ability to find small stocks that were on the rise put the group ahead of their competitors.

“We invested in Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and NVIDIA Corp., which are companies that produce computer parts,” Wahlgren said. “We felt that technology-related stocks had a lot of potential to grow.”

The group spent several days in class and deciding what stocks they wanted to invest in. At the end of the activity, the team had a $39,000 return on their stocks. The D99 BOE awards ceremony took place on Jan. 9.

“It was a great experience to talk to the D99 BOE and see their excitement for the success of the students,” Ridderhoff said.

Saam stresses the importance of this project to his students and that having financial knowledge will benefit their futures.

“If a student does not learn these lessons, it will be hard for them to reach future goals, such as owning a house someday or a comfortable retirement when they get older,” Saam said. “The earlier you start saving, the easier it is to reach your goals.”