TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant rang the opening bell Wednesday to get the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge started at Jones Leadership Academy.
The school's gym took on the hustle and bustle of a stock exchange trading floor, with buying an selling happening at a rapid pace.
President of Junior Achievement of Northwestern Ohio, Jim Pollock, said the challenge is about getting kids exposed to the stock market and teaching how it plays into their financial wealth.
"How do I build future wealth? How do I prepare for retirement? How do I leave a generational legacy for my kids kids?" Pollock said. "That's what I hope they get out of this and that they start to understand."
During the challenge, the students had 30 made-up stocks to choose from with the hopes of making money off their trades and rising to the top of the leadership board.
"We're trying to get to the top. To the top. That's all we're trying to do is get to the top," said Olivia Jackson, a junior at Jones Leadership Academy.
"We're just watching to see what's going up and making smart decisions based on that," Jasmine Evans, also a junior, said.
With all that's happened in the financial world this week, Junior Achievement says the exercise shows students how important it is to make wise decisions with their investments.
"If they're investing in companies in their own communities that turn out to not be there tomorrow, that can have a significant impact on their finances," Pollock said. "So it's been great to see. We've had a lot of those questions from kids that relate to the current news that ties in right with this, so it's been great."
Junior Achievement wants kids to truly understand how money works as financial literacy is a huge issue even among adults. Pollock said you're never too young to learn the basics about budgeting income or the complexities of making the stock market work for you.
"It will help us financially when we get older," Jackson said. "I think especially learn about stocks now then to learn about them later. Because learning later will be harder and more difficult."
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