While she has not reached the savvy stock market investing stature of Warren Buffet, Cathedral Catholic High School student Maddie LiMandri ’17 is well on her way to ranking as the new baroness of Wall Street.

“After Mrs. Harrington’s economics class and winning the Stock Market Game, I am certain that I will major in economics,” LiMandri said. “As we were picking the companies we would invest in, we kept in mind the time of year.

“We were in the game during holiday season first semester, so we decided to invest in companies that would profit from the season.”

For the 11th year in a row in San Diego County, Cathedral Catholic High School students dominated the SIFMA Foundation Stock Market Game by earning the most money on virtual investments made through an online app that pits high school teams across the U.S. against one another in an effort to grow imaginary investments in real companies.

CCHS economics teach Mrs. Christine Harrington leads the stock market bulls.

“My students have placed in the top three for the San Diego County high school division eight times in my 12 years at CCHS, so of course I am very proud,” Mrs. Harrington said.

After signing into their accounts on the SIFMA Foundation app, teammates LiMandri and Melanie Blum ’17 took a leap of faith in choosing companies that led them to an unexpected victory, ranking first in San Diego County.

To compete in the game, students invested $100,000 into companies of their choosing.

“For example, we chose Spirit Airlines because we knew they would be offering great deals for people to fly home for the holidays,” Blum said.

This year, Blum and LiMandri won first place during the fall semester. In addition to this, seniors Cameron King and Ryan James won first place in the spring semester.

“Our winnings were a little bit of both luck and intent,” LiMandri said. “We chose our companies knowing that they were successful. But the fact that they did so well was definitely unexpected and lucky.”

Students must dedicate a lot of time and effort into the game to achieve desirable results, LiMandri said.  

The game is incorporated into the learning curriculum to allow students to learn how the stock market works and why this is an important factor of economics.

“Economics definitely taught us how to read the graphs, which is how we decided which companies would be the most profitable in a short term period,” LiMandri said.

The competition is extremely tough, but CCHS students thrive on a challenge, which  places them in an unfamiliar environment where they make virtual investments in any reasonable. Often, students checked the real stock market to see what would make a good investment.

With the stakes high and the reward set, students competed right up until the end of the contest.

“Historically, if students win the game for the whole state, which our school has done three times, the student team and teacher receive a trip to New York City,” Mrs. Harrington said.

However, it has been a few years since CCHS has performed to this high of a level, Mrs. Harrington said.

Instead, the students this year won the San Diego County title county of San Diego both semesters. Prizes include umbrellas, writing utensils, cordless chargers, and a free lunch.

The prizes for county may be less intriguing, but this did not stop the students from still competing and trying their best.

“I love that our students can perform at a high level of competition just as easily in the classroom as they can on an athletic field,” Mrs. Harrington said.