Hawks Mentor High School Students in Haub School’s Annual Investment Challenge

Over the past several months, Saint Joseph's University has been working with over 250 students from seven high schools on the annual Haub School of Business High School Investment Challenge. Teams competed against one another under the guidance of Investment Scholars — Saint Joseph’s sophomores, juniors and seniors — to invest $1 million into the portfolios of their choosing using EquitySim, an educational stock simulation platform.

The competition culminated on Hawk Hill on April 27, where the top teams from each high school presented their portfolios to a panel of experts.

Facing seasoned financial veterans from Morgan Stanley to Bank of America, this year’s young investors did not disappoint.

“The students were outstanding, with many designing their own financial models to make their stock selections,” says Haub School Dean Joseph DiAngelo, Ed.D. ’70. “I was very proud of the event and our student mentors who did such a great job working with these students throughout the semester.”

Now in its third year, the Investment Challenge gives students the opportunity to connect news, research and the world around them to the U.S. stock market. The teams come up with strategies to make their portfolios profitable in the long run, which may or may not pan out during the short time period of the challenge.

For this reason, students are not judged on their earnings, but rather on whether their strategies were well thought out, how articulately they could explain those strategies, and whether or not the students understood the economic factors that affected the stock market over the past several months.

“Each year I run this event I am more impressed by the quality of the high school students and the level of instruction provided by the SJU Investment Scholars. Seven years ago when I informally began this program, the students were all about taking on risk with no thought to strategic decisions. Now, we have students who not only design long-term strategies but also can effectively present and defend them in front of industry executives,” says Matthew Kelly, visiting instructor of finance, director of the Wall Street Trading Room, and Investment Challenge committee chair and founder. “I attribute this growth to the efforts of our SJU students as well as the efforts of the faculty representatives at the high schools.”

The winning team from Gwynedd Mercy Academy took home $5,000: Katey McGuire ’24, Emma Greenhalgh ’24, Lilly Morrissey ’25, Danielle Dick ’24, Ava Huntley ’24, Caroline Hasson ’24 and Lauren Drakeley ’24.

Second and third place winners were from Bishop Eustace Preparatory School (Joseph Dieter ’22, Morgan Judge ’22, Daniel Dermody ’22 and Dominic Romani ’22) and St. Joseph's Preparatory School (Andoni Christou ’23, Ralph Gonzalez ’23, John McGlynn ’23 and Rafael Quinodoz’ '23), respectively winning $2,000 and $1,000 per school, with runners up from Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast, Colegio San Ignacio De Loyola, Lansdale Catholic and LaSalle College High School.

This event was sponsored by Bullpen Capital Founder and Managing Partner Paul Martino and his wife, Aarati Martino, as well as educational technology company EquitySim.

“Aarati and I sponsor this because we think financial literacy, including understanding the stock market, is a skill not enough high school kids have. This program promotes this understanding and rewards those who demonstrate aptitude with this important skill,” says Martino.

Judges included Dean D’Amico, managing director and senior portfolio manager at the Bank of America Private Bank; Patrick Swanick ’79 ’82 (MBA), retired financial services executive with over 35 years of experience in the banking, collections, payments and technology sectors; and Kyle Robert, senior vice president for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Earlier this spring, the Haub School of Business hosted 130 students from local high schools for the first annual High School Analytics and Data Visualization Competition.

Second and third place winners were from Bishop Eustace Preparatory School (Joseph Dieter ’22, Morgan Judge ’22, Daniel Dermody ’22 and Dominic Romani ’22) and St. Joseph's Preparatory School (Andoni Christou ’23, Ralph Gonzalez ’23, John McGlynn ’23 and Rafael Quinodoz’ '23), respectively winning $2,000 and $1,000 per school, with runners up from Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast, Colegio San Ignacio De Loyola, Lansdale Catholic and LaSalle College High School.

This event was sponsored by Bullpen Capital Founder and Managing Partner Paul Martino and his wife, Aarati Martino, as well as educational technology company EquitySim.

“Aarati and I sponsor this because we think financial literacy, including understanding the stock market, is a skill not enough high school kids have. This program promotes this understanding and rewards those who demonstrate aptitude with this important skill,” says Martino.

Judges included Dean D’Amico, managing director and senior portfolio manager at the Bank of America Private Bank; Patrick Swanick ’79 ’82 (MBA), retired financial services executive with over 35 years of experience in the banking, collections, payments and technology sectors; and Kyle Robert, senior vice president for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Earlier this spring, the Haub School of Business hosted 130 students from local high schools for the first annual High School Analytics and Data Visualization Competition.