Success has its rewards for five students from the Glenville-Emmons High School this month.

Friday, December 24, 1999

Success has its rewards for five students from the Glenville-Emmons High School this month. They are the hard-working members of the team that won a trip New York City in The Stock Market Game.

Social studies instructor Mike Kropp, the team’s advisor, will accompany them to New York in late January. For him, the success is double since he was the sponsor of two teams finishing in the top 10. His second team finished in eighth place.

The winners of the Stock Exchange Game, also known as SMG Worldwide, includes Glenville Emmons seniors Ryan Mathis, Sean Maher, Andy Yocum, Derek Lenz and Jon Wadding. Captains of the eighth-place team were Arianne Learn and Sarah Wegner.

The game is an interactive educational tool used in grades 4-12, with divisions in each grade, promoting understanding of the American economic system, math, social studies, language and business arts. This fall more than 100 Minnesota schools participated in the 10-week program. Each team is given $100,000 of &uot;fake&uot; money to invest in a securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Market System, Krop said. They receive a weekly update of their portfolio standings, and at the conclusion, the top three teams in both elementary and secondary divisions are presented awards.

Students participated on paper and through the Internet. The Glenville team chose to go with paper this year, Kropp said.

Kropp has taught social studies at the high school for four years and has been the advisor of the team every year. His teams have been close to the front before. Two years ago he had a team that finished 16th.

&uot;There have been teams that have been in the first place slot before too for a week or two, but they just didn’t finish that way,&uot; Kropp said. The eighth place team this year was one of those, staying out in front for three weeks before being knocked off by another team, he said.

&uot;I’m very proud of both teams,&uot; Kropp said.

SMG is sponsored nationally by Securities Industry Foundation for Economic Education and locally by the Minnesota Business Economics Education Foundation. BEEF is a non-profit organization whose programs include Classroom Plus, Minnesota Business Venture, Teachers in the Workplace, and the creation of the Minnesota Business Academy.

The Glenville-Emmons team will be recognized in a ceremony hosted by the Lutheran Brotherhood in Minneapolis Jan. 10. They leave for New York Jan. 27 and return the following day. While in New York they will visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the New York Stock and American Stock Exchanges, attend the Broadway performance of Saturday Night Fever and eat lunch on Wall Street.

The trip is being sponsored by Dain Rauscher and Northwest Airlines.