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The National HBCU Stock Market Challenge and Financial Literacy Campaign is an educational and competitive event designed to help educate students in the areas of financial literacy as well as savings and investing. The challenge is sponsored by the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable and Harris Stowe State University, in conjunction with Stock-Trak, Inc., Rise Display, and FactSet.
Dr. Sheila Porterfield, interim dean for the College of Business says, “As a member of the HBCU Business Dean’s Roundtable, I was extremely enthused and highly motivated to ensure that our students had the opportunity to participate in the National HBCU Stock Market Challenge this year.”
In October, each student participating in the challenge was given a virtual $100,000 to create a stock portfolio. Additionally, they were required to complete 20 financial literacy lessons with topics including banking, budgeting, building credit, managing debt, savings, investing, insurance, taxes, and retirement.
College of Business student Thay Montgomery earned second place among his peers from FactSet. The company will provide Montgomery with a pre-interview coaching and a fast track final round interview for full-time employment with FactSet post-graduation. [hr] 
“The experience from participating in this challenge was great and I think what I liked the most about the challenge was that it gave us a real experience in real time investing,” says Montgomery. “When it comes to investing, it is an emotional roller coaster for those who do not understand the market. This contest takes the emotions out of it and can really open the eyes of people to how investing works and from there; they can apply it to their everyday life.”
COB students Janice May and Cordarius Robinson also finished among the top 20 competitors.
“Since entering this challenge, I am much more conscious about the stock market now than I have ever been,” says May. “Most importantly, I have met a lot of great students from other schools that are also participating in the National HBCU Stock Market Challenge and we have formed lasting relationships.”
“For a beginner in the stock market, I think I did pretty well,” says Robinson. “This contest served as a learning tool for myself as I gained more overall knowledge regarding the stock market. This experience was an overall success and I had great time participating.”
“I am pleased to say that several of our students participated in the challenge and were excited about their involvement in the project,” says Porterfield. “At one point, six of our student participants were competing among the top 30. Even more, one of our students secured second place among the top competitors.”
Porterfield further stated, “The challenge allowed our students to gain experiences in strengthening other key skills such as critical thinking, analyzing, and planning. Moreover, they also enhanced both their study skills as well as their self-discipline. They quickly learned that trading is a process that takes time, patience, and a great deal of work.”
Other student participants represented the following HBCUs: Howard University, Savannah State University, Alabama State University, Florida A&M University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Prairie View A&M University, Southern University and A&M College, Fayetteville State University, Tuskegee University, Stillman College, and Hampton University.