Students learning the ups and downs of stock market

by William Belson

Learning at Pittsford is always entertaining, especially when you are in Mr. Lovell’s class. Like all classes you need entertainment or something different so the class isn’t boring. The students from Mr. Lovell’s are trading stocks as a competition. Don’t be worried; the students are not trading real stocks, I was told. That would be even more drastic to the United States crumbling economy.

The buying and trading of stocks in this project is going to help these students to understand to stock market. “We are doing the stock market because we are trying to give them (the students) some experience looking at the stock market and speculating which was one of the causes of the Great Depression. This time around I think it is going to be a real good situation because of the dire situation in our economy this is the closest it has been since the great depression. The idea is for the students to see what speculation is all about,” explained Mr. Lovell.

The students doing the stock project are learning how the stock market works and it is also teaching them the importance of the stock market by their gains or by their losses on the stocks that they buy. “This project helps us understand how stocks work and by the looks of it we are going to need it in the future and it also helps us understand how the stocks work and how they go up and down” explained sophomore Kyle Wyatt.

One student seemed quite excited about the project and quite competitive. “It is fun and I am kind of excited because I want to make a lot of money and I really want to win. It is also beneficial, probably, if you get a lot of money like that you could actually do it (trading stocks) and know how, so later on you can do it for real because you know how to” said sophomore Abbie Brackman.

Once again there is never a dull moment in Mr. Lovell’s class, even when you are learning something. That is how we roll at Pittsford Area Schools.