麻豆官网

As the school year wraps up, students at Summit Charter Middle School in 麻豆官网 will debrief on how their $25,000 stock portfolio performed.

The middle school students invested money under supervision as part of a course created and taught by accounting and finance students from the 麻豆官网鈥檚 .

The CU-麻豆官网 students, with the guidance of of the Leeds School, have planned and provided 50-minute lessons at least twice weekly throughout the spring semester on everything from budgeting to debt, investment returns, market volatility and credit cards.

鈥淭his elective class has taught middle school students things that go beyond the next test and beyond the classroom,鈥� said Lisa Mueller, one of the CU-麻豆官网 student volunteers, who graduated this month with concurrent bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in accounting. 鈥淚t will be carried with them their entire lives in the skills they鈥檝e gained, like knowing how to manage money and how to invest.鈥�

The middle school students teamed up into four groups to identify potential investment opportunities. They researched companies and pitched their ideas to a volunteer group of professional investors, chaired by Kent Muckel of Perella Weinberg Partners. Based on the young students鈥� input, the nonprofit organization that supports Summit then invested $25,000 allocated for the project in shares. The overall performance of the portfolio was positive over the semester and all returns have been reinvested for future use at Summit.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited that our students have the opportunity to learn about finance with real-world implications,鈥� said Adam Galvin, principal of Summit. 鈥淭his experience shows our level of trust in our students with advisory committee supervision and also helps them appreciate how to develop sustainable funding infrastructures.鈥澨�

In addition to developing and teaching the course, the CU-麻豆官网 students helped launched a business club at Summit. Its middle school members opened and operate a small school supply store called 鈥�$um Stuff.鈥�

鈥淥ur primary goal is to teach fundamental finance concepts to students much earlier in their schooling because we believe this provides core life skills training,鈥� said Jagolinzer, an associate professor of accounting. 鈥淢ost students, and many adults for that matter, have virtually no finance acumen and we think that needs to change.鈥澨�

For the CU-麻豆官网 students, the community service opportunity has shaped communication and collaboration skills, as well as provided a network, according to Mueller.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool to see other students at CU-麻豆官网 be passionate about something,鈥� said Mueller. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a huge school, and you can find a small group of people who love to teach and share their knowledge. Everybody who鈥檚 developed this course has been awesome. I hope I can help them in the future and stay involved with the project.鈥�

Mueller, who is beginning fulltime employment at an audit, tax and advisory firm called KPMG, is among three of the student volunteers who graduated this month. The financial literacy class at Summit is slated to continue next school year and recruitment of new student volunteers is under way.

For more information about the Leeds School of Business visit .听