Haub School of Business High School Investment Challenge

he Investment Challenge provides students with a unique opportunity to master the intricacies of the stock market and understand its reactions to individual companies, political events, and the broader economic climate in the United States. Designed to minimize the administrative load on faculty advisors, the competition allows students to participate in remote learning sessions led by SJU's esteemed finance scholars. Competing teams and their advisors will vie for prestigious honors, valuable prizes, and the highly sought-after team trophy.

The contest aims to enhance students’ understanding of the stock market’s relationship with business and global events. It encourages them to ask critical questions:

• Why buy or sell a stock?
• Why does the market behave in certain ways?
• Why does the portfolio perform better or worse than the market?

Students will develop long-term strategies that may not yield immediate gains. Judging will focus on the investment strategies, students’ ability to articulate them, and their understanding of economic influences rather than short-term profits

• Schools can enroll multiple teams within classes or clubs.
• Each school will select one "winning" team to present their strategies to a panel of industry experts and faculty in March 2025.
• Presentations can be made in-person at SJU during March or April of 2025

For more information, contact Matthew Kelly, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, at 
mkelly02@sju.edu.
 

https://www.sju.edu/haub-school-business/wstr/investment-challenge

2023-2024 Participants

• Bishop Eustace
• Gwynedd Mercy Academy
• Holy Ghost Prep
• Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast (3rd place)
• Mount St. Josephs Academy (2nd place)
• Lansdale Catholic High School
• LaSalle College High School (1st place)
• Saint Joseph's Preparatory School
• Villa Joseph Maria

2022-2023 Participants
Bishop Eustace (1st place)
Saint Joseph's Preparatory School (2nd place)
Mount St. Josephs Academy (3rd place)
Gwynedd Mercy Academy
Lansdale Catholic High School
LaSalle College High School
Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Predergast
Villa Joseph Maria

2021-2022 Champions: Gwynedd Mercy Academy

Sponsored by AlphaOne Capital Partners

The SJU Investment Challenge is designed to provide students in high schools the opportunity to learn about the stock market, and how the market’s value is affected by individual company events, political events, and the overall economic environment in the United States.

Sponsored by:

Event Champion: AlphaOne Capital Partners

School Champion: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

Second Place: Paul Martino

Pacer Investment Scholars: Pacer Advisors Inc.

Learn More

Over the course of three months, 159 student teams consisting of over 500 students worked within a portfolio on the EquitySim platform. Students at the high-schools were instructed by Student Investment Scholars from Saint Joseph's University on topics ranging from introduction to a stock through investment strategies. Each team had the opportunity to invest on the portfolio they chose. The purpose of the contest was for the student to connect news, research and the world around them to the U.S. Stock Market.

During the competition students were evaluated on the prudence of their investment strategies, how well were they able to explain those strategies and the economic factors that influenced the stock market during the period.