In a world where time is money and money is everything, the stock market can seem like a quick and easy fix for those in need. However, the terminology and graphs may seem confusing to all but an experienced eye.

Economics teacher Eddie McDugle created a project 14 years ago centered around teaching his students how to navigate the stock market. Student groups of three or four are presented with $10,000 worth of “money” which they must invest into three company stocks.

One day a week for seven weeks, McDugle’s economics classes exchange lecture notes for stock market charts to analyze the fluctuations of each stock and debate with each other about which stocks to invest in next.  

“It’s always fun to hear them when the kids are arguing over which stocks to pick as a group,” McDugle said. “That’s when I know I’ve hooked them, that they’re interested in it. Sometimes you have kids who are completely apathetic about it and don’t care, but other times the kids come in and immediately start griping at each other ‘You picked the loser stock and I picked a winning stock’ and that’s when I know they’re really into it.”

Students must research company stocks in preparation for the project. Each group is ranked in the class, and the students are graded based on how well their stocks perform.

“Our main goal was not to go under the money he originally gave us,” former Economics student Rosa Perez (12) said. “It was more like, okay, [we need to] get number one in the class because we need to do better than everyone else. As long as we don’t lose any more money than he gave us, we’re fine.”

The strategy for most students is to pick stocks in the middle initially, so they have room to move, hopefully to the higher end. Students then have the choice to sell their stock and buy new stock if they think it will create profit.

Current Economics student, Lana Singer (12),  is excited about this project.

“It will be cool to see how good I am at using my money wisely.”

“I definitely think we should have more projects like this because it is very interactive and very hands on,” Singer said. “I think in cases like this where students are not really sure what they’re getting into…it’s good to have someone with experience to guide us through. It’s kind of like a trial run. ”

The stock project is meant to be fun, and McDugle stresses the stock market is not a reliable source of income.        

“I want the kids to understand that it is absolutely gambling,” McDugle said. “The stock market is not a sure thing. It does have a lot of risk to it, so you have to learn, are you willing to risk your real life money to get into the stock market?”

Perez believes she will buy stock in the future because of this project.   

“I actually learned that I can do the stock market,” Perez said. “Of course, I’m not going to be the person who is going to buy and sell right away. I’m going to be the person that buys the stock, keeps it for forever and then cashes it in.”

Both Perez and Singer agree classes like economics are important because they help young adults navigate the world.