Econ Illinois:
The Stock Market Game program
InvestWrite Essay Competition
Winner, Fall 2009
Teachers whose students participate in The Stock Market Game are strongly encouraged to submit student essays to the national InvestWrite competition. InvestWrite is the language arts component of the SMG, and offers an opportunity for additional learning and competition.
Competition is divided into three grade levels: Grades 4-5, Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12. Ten top essays are awarded national recognition.
Students write an essay in response to a given grade-level question or topic. The essay topic is changed every school year. The teacher can select a maximum of five essays per class to submit online for national judging - thus, the teacher is asked to pre-judge the class' essays.
InvestWrite is a program of Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Foundation for Investor Education. Visit the InvestWrite web site and learn how SMG teachers can participate. You will find a link to past winners as well as names of those professionals who volunteered to judge the entries.
Nationally, over 2500 student essays were judged by national judges. Nearly 10,000 students wrote essays at the classroom level, and were pre-judged by their teachers. Each teacher could submit up to five essays from each SMG class. Over 600 professionals from the financial services and education community volunteered to judge the anonymous entries.
The Fall 2009 competition saw only one winning essay in Illinois. Read about this outstanding student and teacher below!
National Recognition, Grades 4 - 5
Receiving 6th place nationally in the grades 4-5 division, is Abbey N, White Eagle Elementary School, Indian Prairie District 204, Naperville. Abbey's teacher is Sharon Phares. Abbey and Ms. Phares both receive certificates of award and gift cards. Abbey's parents receive a certificate of appreciation for their support of their child's learning. Dr. Daniel Condon, Director of the Dominican University Center for Economic Education will present the awards at an in-school celebration.
Read Abbey's Essay and the question she addressed.
Ms Phares is a Gifted Resource Specialist at White Eagle and has incorporated The Stock Market Game into her curriculum since 1999. She has nurtured several of her students to InvestWrite awards!
Sharon has also engaged her students in Econ Illinois' annual Economics Concepts Poster Contest, most recently having a state winner whose drawing appears in the 2010 Poster Contest calendar. (request one now)