BARNEGAT – While many fifth graders spend their afternoons playing Roblox, Kennedy Haviland was busy learning why investing in the company’s stock may not have been the smartest financial move.
The Robert L. Horbelt School fifth grade student recently earned first place in New Jersey and seventh place nationally in the InvestWrite essay competition connected to the Stock Market Game, a program that introduces students to economics and investing through simulated trading.
For Kennedy, the experience became much more than a classroom assignment. It turned into a lesson in teamwork, risk taking and learning how quickly fortunes can change in the stock market.
One of those lessons came through Roblox. “My least favorite investment is Roblox,” Kennedy wrote in her nationally recognized essay. “My team and I bought Roblox as one of our first investments. Because we bought it very early, we didn’t have much information about it.”
During an interview, Kennedy explained that the company was dealing with lawsuits and uncertainty at the time. The stock continued dropping. “It would just make us lose a lot of money every day,” she said.
Apple, however, turned into the team’s biggest success. “My favorite investment in the stock market game was Apple,” Kennedy wrote. “This investment was my favorite because it gave me the most money out of all my investments, averaging $1,000 per day.”
Showing a bit of her personality, Kennedy added that Apple was founded on April Fool’s Day!
Teamwork And Trading
The Stock Market Game was part of Barnegat’s Gifted and Talented program taught by Roy Huff. Students worked in teams using $100,000 in simulated money to invest in publicly traded companies while competing against students across the region and nation.
Kennedy teamed up with classmates Maira Nguyen and Isabella Reinhardt under the name “The Stock Marketers.” The girls quickly learned that successful investing required more than guessing which companies were popular. Kennedy said the team carefully watched company earnings reports and studied how businesses performed before deciding whether to buy or short sell stocks.
“We would look at what companies are going to have earnings, and then we would look at how they did based on their last earnings,” Kennedy explained.
Still, investing did not always go their way. At one point, the team’s portfolio dropped to about $93,000 after a risky investment late in the competition performed poorly. “At the end we bought a company, and then they did really bad on their earnings,” Kennedy said. “We lost a lot of money there, and then we couldn’t really get back up.”
Instead of discouraging her, the losses made Kennedy even more curious about how the market rises and falls. She found that the most challenging part was how risky it is to buy some companies because it was really hard to make money.
The project also strengthened the friendships within her team. Kennedy said the girls often called each other outside of school to discuss investments. Although the girls worked together on investing decisions, the essay competition itself was an individual assignment.
Writing That Connected
Kennedy’s essay stood out not only for its financial understanding, but also for its personality and humor. “The stock market game has taught me so much about how to invest, long-term and short-term investments, and so much more,” she wrote. “But most importantly, this game has taught me about teamwork.”
She also showed a surprisingly mature understanding of investment strategy. “It is a smart choice to buy a mutual fund because it diversifies your portfolio more,” Kennedy wrote. “They say diversification is the best investment strategy!”
Huff said Kennedy’s ability to explain complicated financial concepts in simple language helped distinguish her essay from hundreds of entries nationwide.
“I believe Kennedy’s essay stood out for several reasons,” Huff said. “First, she was able to explain somewhat complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms. Even readers who are not familiar with the stock market could still follow along and learn from her writing.”
He said her personality also came through naturally on the page. “As you read, you could really get a sense of who Kennedy is as a person,” Huff added.
According to Huff, the national competition was highly selective. More than 866 essays in Kennedy’s grade level alone advanced to national judging after an initial review process conducted by teachers.
Kennedy spent about a week writing and revising her essay. Her father reviewed drafts before submission, while Huff also helped students polish their work.
Still Figuring Out The Future
Like many fifth graders, Kennedy is still exploring what she may want to be some day. She says she loves art and has not fully decided on a future career yet. But one recent classroom experience may have opened the door to another possibility.
During a mock trial involving the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, Kennedy took on the role of defense attorney for the wolf. Using details from “The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs,” Kennedy built her case and successfully defended her unlikely client.
“We won,” Kennedy said, after explaining how she used evidence from the story during the mock trial. The experience left an impression on her, and Kennedy admitted becoming a lawyer is now something she may seriously consider.
For Huff, her success comes as no surprise. “It has been a true joy to teach Kennedy in the Gifted and Talented program in Barnegat,” he said. “She has a competitive spirit that pushes her to do her best in everything she does.”
Kennedy’s accomplishment was recognized publicly during the April Barnegat Board of Education meeting, where she received congratulations for both her first-place finish in New Jersey and national ranking.
“I was really happy,” Kennedy said afterward. She also walked away from the competition with a trophy, banner, prize money and perhaps something even more valuable – a new confidence in her abilities.
And while Kennedy may still be years away from making real-world investments, she already sounds like someone who has learned one of Wall Street’s most important lessons. “Do research about the companies before they buy them,” she advised future student investors.
