St Ignatius students prove top investors
(L-R) Brian Williams of Saxon, the winning team of Kelsi Persad and Justine Rhule, and Christen Suckoo of the Ministry of Education
(CNS Local Life): Two students from St Ignatius Catholic School emerged winners of the ninth annual Saxon Investment Challenge for local high school and college students. The two young investors and first-time entrants into the challenge – Justine Rhule and Kelsi Persad – who operated under the trading name of Debtor X, generated the highest return over the period from October 2017 to March 2018.
They received the top cash prize at an awards ceremony held Tuesday, 17 April, at their school to mark the end of this season’s challenge.
Debtor X, with a 51.44% return, topped 44 groups that participated in the six-month extra-curricular programme, in which students gain practical insights into investing, money, the stock market, and learning how businesses operate.
Students operated with demo accounts set up by OneTRADEx, in which they simulated real-life trades, using an initial sum of $100,000 which they were given to invest. They worked in teams and were supervised by teachers who monitor their learning and progress.
“We chose specific stocks based on things that were happening in our community and in the world, for example we chose Home Depot because all the hurricanes that had been happening,” said first-place winner Rhule. “We decided a lot of people would need repairs and their stock would go up and it did.”
Second-place winners (L-R) Ethan Cronier and Christian Murray
Persad noted she had learned the valuable lesson of researching stock picks thoroughly, “Sometimes we invested in a random stock and it wasn’t a good idea.” Rhule added. “For anyone thinking of joining this competition, I think it’s an amazing opportunity. There is very little risk involved, it’s not your money, you can invest in stocks and figure out what the stock market is like and even if you don’t win there are so many monthly prizes. I am really grateful for this opportunity that we had.”
Second place was awarded to St Ignatius students Christian Murray and Ethan Cronier, who operated under the trading name, 51065, with a 41.25% return.
Clifton Hunter High School’s team, Midas Touch, comprising Joel Hyn and Fabian O’Conner, were the third-prize winners with a 38.1% return.
(L-R) Fabian O’Conner and Joel Hyn took third place
Saxon CEO Brian Williams congratulated the students on their achievements and thanked the teachers who provided guidance and assisted in coordinating the challenge. “We are so impressed with the enthusiasm this year with 44 active trading teams and seven schools joining the challenge,” he said. “It was impressive the types of trades and amazing returns; it’s clear our students are engaged and learning a lot about business. Saxon is grateful to the schools, teachers, OneTRADEx and the Ministry of Education for their ongoing support.”
Christen Suckoo, Chief Officer of the Ministry of Education, said of the initiative: “Investing is an area we want Caymanians especially to develop in, this gives the ministry an opportunity to develop their analytical skills, completed in a healthy environment with other schools.”
Richard Ellison of OneTRADEx, added, “All the statistics tell us if you start building wealth at a young age, you will be in a much better financial position later on. If we can sow the seed for children to participate at a young age; this is a really good thing for kids in school and the island in general.”
St Ignatius teacher Dominique Chenier, who was also the advisor to her school’s participants, said, “I love it because it’s a chance for the kids to practise some of the math, business and accounting skills they learn, but also it allows them to work as a team, to make some tough decisions which is part of the real world and they just love the competition. We are very much looking forward to the competition next year; it’s very popular at our school and I hope it will be in every other school, too.”
