To ordinary teenagers, the stock market may not be interesting. But what if it were a competition?

In United States History, teachers Jennifer Huehnergarth and Patrick Woods are involving their students in the state-wide Stock Market Game. 

In September, students began a realistic real-time stock market simulation that will end in December. Players started with $100,000 to spend on different fake shares of companies. Throughout the competition, the game ranked students for the amount of virtual money they earned.

Huehnergarth has hosted the Stock Market Game for her students for the past eight years. 

She likes to participate in the game because it mirrors the unpredictability of the real market.

“Sometimes people will invest in a company, and I’m like, ‘Oh, how did that go last night?’” Huehnergarth said. “Maybe that person [or company] may have posted something on social media and the stock goes down or Mother Nature does something. It’s interesting.”

Huehnergarth motivates her students to research the effects and struggles of the market.

Brenden White (10) is competitive in the game. He invested in 600 shares of Upstart in October when he learned that the company was getting into AI. 

“When the stock went down, I sold it all, and then it went up 25%. I missed out on $24,000,” White said.