High school students managing stocks in investment fund

JESSAMINE CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — For 10 years, investment advisor Quint Tatro has taught UK seniors how to invest their money. Now, he’s teaching a new group of seniors at West Jessamine High School.

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“I’ve always wanted to extend that class to the high school level to get young people interested in investing,” Tatro said. “Personal finance is a huge passion of mine, and I really believe if we can get kids excited about investing and excited about making money, they’ll be much more inclined to learn how to balance their checkbook and be prudent with their resources.”

The program made its debut at West Jessamine this year, teaching high school seniors about investing by allowing them to manage real money.

“I’m considering going into business,” said senior Stella Bower. “That’s always been something that I’m really passionate about. This class just spoke to me because I’ve always wanted to learn more about investing and stocks and things like that.”

“I did not know that there was going to be a finance sector of this class,” senior Margaret Wilson added, “but no matter the path that you’re interested in, investing can play a huge role in your life.”

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Thanks to an anonymous donor, students have the chance to work with a $100,000 fund.

“The students are managing the funds. They are responsible for selecting the stocks that go into the portfolio,” Tatro explained. “As the portfolio grows each and every year, we’ll pull out a portion of the proceeds to go back into the high school for scholarships.”

“At the end of the school year, the kids will make another decision. Do we add more, do we cut the position? How do we manage the portfolio? Over time as new classes and students come in, new positions will be added, other positions will be sold, and the portfolio will sort of evolve over time, and hopefully do very well, in order for the kids to benefit and see a real life financial response from their work,” Tatro said.

The stock management began with students researching and presenting their findings. Bower and Wilson worked together to research the Tesla stock (TSLA).

“Learning about Tesla has been so cool and learning about all of the areas of business, because I was a person that thought Tesla just made electric vehicles,” Bower said. “Now learning with the research that we’ve done that it’s so much bigger than that and how many areas of life it’s really in.”

With just one class involved this year, Tatro hopes this program will expand to a few more classes next year.

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“The goal is for it to expand to all seniors,” Tatro added, “and obviously, I’m very entrepreneurial, I would love to see something like this across the state of Kentucky.”

“Imagine if every senior in high school in the state of Kentucky had real life experience investing in public markets. Many may never do it again. They may just not care. But the seeds that could be planted for the kids that become interested in that could change lives, and that’s really what we’re trying to do.”

How does the first group of students feel about being entrusted with real stocks and real money?

“With us being the first class to do this there is some pressure,” Wilson started, “but I believe if we keep an eye on our stocks and just make the right decisions with looking into it and continuing to research and how we think the stock will progress, then we will be set.”

Bower added, “I think the stock market is only risky if you don’t do your homework, and so I think this is a great opportunity and not something to be nervous about.”