By AMY JONES / Associate Editor

MONTEVALLO — Several Montevallo Elementary students are well-equipped to handle the next stock market downturn.

Three MES students finished first out of 453 teams in the Alabama Stock Market Game in the grades 4-8 division of the North region.

Price Alexander, Grace Stermer and Lily Jowers started out with $100,000 in the virtual stock market, then for 10 weeks, they bought and sold their way to $116,200 — No. 1 in the region.

Alexander, Stermer and Jowers split $150 and took home backpacks for their victory.

Three other MES teams finished in the top 10 in the division.

Sydney Selman and Jordynn Thomas finished in sixth place; Andrea Lavin, Jessie Evans and Kayci Forrest finished in seventh place; and Clay Colley, Raven Brewer and Juan Martinez finished in 10th place. Those students won backpacks.

MES gifted teacher Jo Ellen Guthrie advised the teams.

Guthrie said she was excited and surprised to have so many teams do well.

“I was very honored that so many placed in the top 10,” she said. “It’s surprising to have so many teams in the top 10. I was hoping to get one team. And to win first place was a big surprise.”

She said MES did even better than the scores show.

“For a long time, we had five teams in the top 10,” she said.

Guthrie said she has her class participate in the stock market game because it teaches math skills, team-building and leadership. She wouldn’t be surprised to see some of her students pursue careers in the financial field, she said.