Five year 11 Business Studies students participated in the Stock Market Challenge, which was held in Abbey Grammar School, on Friday 6th March 2015.
The team had an exciting day buying and selling shares and Euros on the Stock Exchange. The Competition hall was set out to resemble the Stock Exchange floor and the simulation ran for a trading week. The team was involved in making decisions under pressure and taking calculated risks to make as much money in the week as possible.
This was a very fast paced event and the pupils had to be responsive to the quick changes in the markets. They had to interpret newspaper reports, TV news items and radio broadcasts and use their knowledge and judgement to decide on where best to invest their money. The team came away with some understanding of the pressures of working in a business/financial environment.
Each member of the team had to fulfil a certain role: Finance Manager, Investment Analyst, Media Analyst, Floor Trader (Buyer) and Floor Trader (Seller).
The Rathfriland High School team was:
Zara Malcolmson – Finance Manager
Grace Lilburn– Investment Analyst
Rebecca Megaw– Media Analyst
Shania Stevenson– Floor Trader Buyer
Emma Parker– Floor Trader Seller
The team succeeded in making a profit and were placed a respectable 12th place out of 25.
It was a rewarding and enjoyable activity, which provided pupils with a platform to develop their decision making, problem solving and numeracy/literacy skills. Pupils were also able to gain confidence working in a team whilst strengthening their communication skills. These skills are key employability skills highly valued by employers in Northern Ireland across many industry sectors.
The ride home was very eventful but overall we had an extremely successful trip.
