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Investor in the Making

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Henry Pike, a sophomore at Cameron High School, pitched a $2 billion investment plan to fund his dream of building a water treatment plant that is environmentally friendly and financially sound. It was all in good, competitive fun. His financial plan was so compelling that it won him first place in Wisconsin in the Fall 2019 InvestWrite® competition, a national essay contest.

As a member of the Cameron’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization, Pike and other members participated in the SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Gameprogram, which teaches students about the economy, the financial markets, the role of investors, and how to make good investments. FBLA members then compose InvestWrite® essays individually to apply what they have learned using critical thinking, analysis, and creative writing.

“It is an awesome experience for him to use both his math skills in the stock market portion and his writing skills to share some of the things he has learned through his participation in InvestWrite,” says his FBLA advisor and CTE teacher Cheryl Hopkins.

The InvestWrite competition requires students to write an essay describing a dream they hope to achieve. Essays lay out a financial plan to pay for their dream with a pitch to a panel of virtual investors. To fund his dream, Pike indicated it would require a $2 billion initial investment. “Shares would be sold to private equity investors to build up a capital base to fund the project. Bonds would then be sold to finance the project and would deliver at least 6 percent returns for the first 10 years and at least 9 percent for the next 20 years.

“Overall,” Pike wrote, “investing in a water treatment plant is an environmentally and financially sound plan for ethics-based investing.”

Henry Pike and his teacher, Cheryl Hopkins, were honored on Monday, March 9, during an academic assembly at Cameron High School in Cameron, Wisconsin. Representatives of FBLA were on hand to recognize the winning student and teacher. Also present was a representative of EconomicsWisconsin, a statewide organization committed to educating Wisconsin students in economic and free market concepts that makes The Stock Market Game and InvestWrite available to students in the state.