Middle schoolers get thrill of a lifetime at NYSE

A group of budding Hawken Middle School student investors could have been one of the last groups to be witness to all that is the New York Stock Exchange-the rush, the clamor and the excitement. That`s because experts say that given the rapid development of technology, the exchange as it is known today-namely the landmark trading floor-is a fading institution and all trading will soon be done electronically. Carol Clark, a Hawken parent and a Vice President at BioEnterprise, heads the Middle School`s Investment Club and took the students to the exchange as recognition for the group`s winning performance in the Stock Market Game. It`s the second time since May 2005 that she`s taken a group to New York because of its top placement in the game. The year`s team of seventh and eighth graders earned one of the three top spots in the state of Ohio in the national contest sponsored by the Foundation for Investor Education, which is an affiliate of the Security Industries Association. And they haven`t just done that once, they`ve done it three times. Teams of the student investors are given a virtual $100,000 and must invest it over the course of 10 weeks under conditions that simulate that real stock exchange. All trading is real time and incurs fees that real Wall Street traders have to bear. Hawken`s team competed against others in Ohio and had some of the highest returns on its investments. To pay for the trip, Clark had students raise half of the expenses, but enlisted the help of the Cleveland business community to sponsor the students for the rest. \"We had an overwhelming level of support from the Cleveland business community...to make you extremely proud to be from Cleveland, Ohio,\" she said. \"What they did for these young people is just remarkable.\" Beyond that, Continental Airlines provided discount airfare and the Yale Club of New York provided discounted room accommodations. The day after they arrived in New York, the students were standing on the floor of the stock exchange in the thick of it all. "[Since 9/11] one cannot get into the exchange without a personal invitation from someone who has a seat on the floor," Clark said. Key Bank provided that invitation that brought them to floor, an anomaly also because usually even an invitation only provides visitors with a look from afar. "This was really exhilarating for them [since they`ve been] studying about stocks and investing in these virtual stocks for a number of years now," she said. "And you read about the millions and millions of dollars that exchange hands on the floor at any given hour and for them to be there surrounded by all the excitement and the buzz and the activity...it was really thrilling for them." During the trip, the students met with representatives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan and Stanley and with a representative from Greenhill Co., who surprisingly had a lot in common with them. Tim George, a managing director at the bank, is also 1970 graduate of Hawken. "He`s always one of the highlights of the day," Clark said. Clark thinks the trip and existence of Hawken`s investment club, which started in 2002, is just as vital as teaching any other course in school. "Often there`s not enough time in school to teach [students] personal finance skills," she said. "And there are so many people who graduate from college in this country who are over their heads in credit card debt and don`t understand the importance of beginning to save at a very early age." And knowing then how to make the most of that savings is equally as important, she added. The students in the investment club have quickly learned to love the subject. With the stock market contests and speakers that come in occasionally, they`ve discovered investing is an exciting experience, and that whatever career they choose, it is still