Tech Topics - Fall 2008 - (Page 15) THE HILL Wall Street on WEST PEACHTREE Finance camp introduces teens to world of finance By Brad Dixon F ifteen-year-old Elease Dillard isn’t planning for a career on Wall Street. But she understands that the better she understands finance, the better off she’ll be in the future. That’s why she enrolled in Wall Street on West Peachtree, a day camp for Atlanta-area high school students that ran in late July at the Georgia Tech College of Management. “I thought it would be an important class to help me save up money,” said Dillard, a student at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga., who plans to become a doctor. “It’s good to start early.” Jonathan Clarke, an associate professor of finance, developed the curriculum for the weeklong camp. “National high school financial-literacy scores are horrendous,” he said. “There’s clearly a big need for this type of program.” The 35 students who participated in the College of Management’s first finance camp learned saving strategies, how money grows over time and differences between types of savings and investment accounts. They were given an imaginary stock portfolio to manage using simulation software on the dual-display computers that fill the college’s state-of-the-art FerrisGoldsmith Trading Floor. Clarke, the primary camp instructor, said he became interested in a financial career when he participated in a stock simulation run by the local newspaper when he was a high school student in Pittsburgh. “I just loved it and got really interested in Wall Street,” Clarke said. “I hope our camp’s stock-market simulations get these high school students excited about finance. It’s a great career and an important area to study.” Noah Adler, 15, said finance is among the careers he’s considering to build upon his strong math skills. Getting to manage a stock portfolio was his favorite part of the camp. Given the shaky state of the economy, he hadn’t thought that now would be a good time to invest in the stock market. “But now I see that you could make more profit than I had thought,” said Adler, who attends Yeshiva High School in Doraville, Ga. “The STANLEY LEARY Jonathan Clarke, an associate professor of finance, helps Elease Dillard with her finance camp stock market work. teacher said it might be a good time to invest because stocks are low. If you keep money in there long enough, you’ll get a profit.” The camp cost $230 per student. Contributions from College of Management alumni and friends at Merrill Lynch enabled the college to offer need-based scholarships to 14 students. TechTopics | Fall 2008 15 http://www.gtalumni.org/awards http://www.gtalumni.org/awards
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