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CHELSEA – Stocks, bonds and mutual funds might sound like terms better suited for Wall Street, but local students recently displayed their mastery of such entities during a 10-week educational program.

Six students from Forest Oaks Elementary School and one from Mt Laurel Elementary School placed in the Alabama Stock Market Game’s 2020 Fall Top 10 for the North Region’s fourth-eighth grade division.

FOES student Grayson Rhoads won first place for using what he learned about investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds to grow his $100,000 into a portfolio worth more than $163,184.08.

FOES’s other winners were Walker Hicks, fourth place; Caelum Walls, fifth place; Hannah Engle, sixth place; Izzy Lazarus, ninth place; and Katie McNeill, 10th place. MLES student Mila Piedra came in second place.

“Our fourth and fifth grade students learn how to read stock quotes and research relevant information in order to make informed decisions about their investments,” Gifted Education teacher JoBeth Robbins said. “We have been playing the Stock Market Game consistently since 2013.”

According to the Alabama Council on Economic Education’s website, the Stock Market Game is a 10-week, online trading experience in which students begin with $100,000 to purchase stocks, bonds and mutual funds and make any number of trades with their available funds. The teams with the most valuable portfolios at the end of the 10 weeks win their division.

The contest is open to students in grades four-12 and who attend public and private schools, are home schooled and in non-profit youth organizations.

This year’s contest proved to be especially exciting for FOES.

“Although we have had many teams finish in the top 10, including first place and overall state grand champion winners, our school has never had this many in the top 10 before,” Robbins said.