Brockton students sweep contest investing $1M in mock money. Now, they've got real money

BROCKTON — Five Brockton High School students are raising the bar in financial literacy and STEM education by securing the top five spots in a national competition.

Out of 160 students ranging from middle school to college age who took part in this annual contest from cities across the country, all of the top five performers are from Brockton High School this year, according to the school department.

The winners were recognized during a ceremony and given a total of $15,000 in prize money, in the form of an investment portfolio and scholarships.

This was all possible through Empower Yourself , a financial literacy and STEM education program based in Brockton. For the first time, 22 students from Brockton participated in the Financial Investment Club Competition, sponsored by The BASE Chicago , a diverse youth program that helps students with academics and healthy life habits.

Throughout this year-long program, students were given $1 million in mock money to create their own investment portfolios. The goal was to trade, and the best-performing students increased their portfolios by 30% to 50%.

The top-performing portfolios were all from Brockton High students: Henry Ani, Zaidyn Carvalho-Pereira, Montserrat Diaz, Julian Melendez and Lorcens Bellevue.

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“The competition had its difficulties, but it was a learning experience for me because I could learn how to apply knowledge through the competition. My biggest takeaway from this competition is how I learned how to invest and how I learned how to connect engineering, STEM and economics even more,” Ani said.

Ani, who came in first place, won $6,000 and plans to take his investments to the next level with his winnings.

At the award ceremony dozens of friends and family members screamed and cheered as the students' names were being called and they were awarded their checks.

Cedric Turner, executive director of Empower Yourself, Kim Redding, retired CEO/CIO of Brookfield Investment Management, and Eric David, executive director of The BASE Chicago , all said a few words at the ceremony, and some words even came with tears.

“We want to improve communities that look like us by inspiring them and challenging them to see what’s out there in the world, and this competition is one of those things. So, whether it's this or technology or civics, we just want our kids to be exposed to the worldview and not just have a Brockton view, a West Garfield Park view, or a Roxbury view," David said.

"It's our job to do that, and not just say someone needs to do that. We are, in fact, those somebodies.”

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Closing the racial wealth gap

The Federal Reserve in 2021 reported that the average Black and Hispanic or Latino households earn half as much as white households and own only about 15-20% as much net wealth as white households, according to a written statement from Brockton Public Schools in advance of the prize ceremony.

Brockton students are learning how to close the financial wealth gap as they become adults through a partnership with the Personal Finance Lab, William Blair Wealth Management Chicago, and the Do Good Daniels Foundation.

“In Brockton, the returns have been extraordinary so far,” the written statement from Brockton Public Schools said.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton students sweep contest investing $1M in mock money. Now, they've got real money