At Shadow Ridge High School students enrolled in three time State Champion Girl’s Flag Football Matthew Nighswonger’s Financial Literacy class have been in a heated stock market competition for the past month. The game tracks real life stocks allowing students to have a real world experience with how the stock market works. The goal of this game is for students to make the most money possible in the stock market, from February 7th, 2024 to March 22, 2024.

This game’s main goal is to inform students of the stock market and make them more comfortable and familiar with it. This competition shows the students the hard way that within seconds, they can win it all or go broke.

Dual Enrollment English 101/102 and Journalism teacher Paige Smith stated, “I think that it is very valuable in teaching students about the stock market […] a great real world lesson for high school seniors.”

Smith speaks to the positive effects this game can have for students not only now but for their future in the real world.

Smith also stated, “I think that seniors are going to be more knowledgeable about how to navigate the stock market.”

Again Smith touches on the positive impact that this game will have on all students. However Smith also recognizes the bad commenting, “This competition can be super distracting and annoying for me since the students in my class become obsessed with acquiring a ton of fake money in their fake stock market game.”

This remark goes back to Newton’s Third Law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. With all the positives that this game can have on students it can also cause students to become too focused on one assignment or one class causing the rest of their academics to suffer.

Idaho State softball commit, Josslin Law, and a participant in this stock market game added, “I think it’s great practice for the actual stock market and can be insightful for those who are interested.”

Law’s comments echo the positive effects and impacts this game is having and will have on these seniors from first hand experience.

Law’s thoughts are echoed by senior Lucas Nelson, who is also involved in the game, “I think it’s a great way for students to get real life experiences with finances.”

Nelson speaks more to the financial side as a whole instead of just the stock market portion of the game. Students learning the correct financial decisions in relation to and unrelated to the stock market are just a few of the lessons Nighswonger is trying to teach his students this semester.