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Updated June 25th, 2009
LCHS Students Master the Market
By CHRIS SUTTON
The Outlook
Despite the general malaise of
the stock market, two teams of La
Cañada High School students made
wise investments and employed
winning strategies in a recent school
project, and doubled their initial
investments in eight months.
In November 2008, former
LCHS student Christine Sarafian, a
broker at Crowell, Weedon & Co.,
introduced the company’s Stock
Market game to students in the
graphic arts class of Gayle Nicholls-
Ali, herself a former stock broker.
The game was installed on their
computers, and the class formed
investment teams. Sarafian conducted
sessions with them, discussing
investment strategies and urging
them to be patient.
Members of Team Kobe (as in Laker Kobe Bryant) were Ray Chi,
Andrew Kim, Mikael Taipale,
Patrick Kim and Doug Lee, and
they turned their $100,000 investment
into more than $200,000,
emerging as the winning team.
Their portfolio was comprised of
Phillip Morris, Sony, Apple and
Nokia.
“One of the stocks was suggested
by Christine, two we liked ourselves,
and we selected Nokia
because Mikael is from the same
country,”
Chi said.
Chi and Taipale felt the game
and exposure to the market was a
worthwhile experience, and when
they are adults they plan to invest in
the market. They hope to have the
same financial success as they did
with the game.
Lisa Lim, Priscilla Kim and
Katie Rayburn, who did not have a
team name, were close behind, realizing
a $99,931 profit on their
$100,000 investment in Disney and
Coach.
“We too took one of Christine’s
suggestions and then picked a stock
we were all familiar with,” Rayburn
said.
On the behalf of Crowell Weedon, Sarafian presented the top finishing
team members with a trophy,
medal and certificate.
At the beginning of 2009, all the
teams in the game were down
between $15,000 to $30,000, but Sarafian told them not to give up.
“This is the first time we used
the game at LCHS,” she said. “It has
been a good experience for all the
teams. It has taught them about the
stock market, terminology and
investment strategies, and has made
them more aware of putting their
money to work for them in the
future when they enter the work
force.”
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