Warwick Wins KPMG Investment Challenge
Warwick Academy’s Enterprise Explorers team won first place and a $10,000 prize in KPMG’s annual Investment Challenge.
A Warwick Academy spokesperson said, “One of Warwick Academy’s student teams finished first on Monday evening at the awards ceremony for the annual Investment Challenge run by KPMG and received a $10,000 cash prize. The challenge, designed to develop the students’ understanding of the investment world, involved six different schools, and a total of eighteen teams participated in the competition.
“The Enterprise Explorers, which consisted of students from Ms Lightbourne’s Year 12 BTEC Enterprise and Entrepreneurship class, finished top of the podium rankings in an extremely challenging trading period. The Enterprise Explorers team consisted of Oliver Soares [Captain], Cameron Addiscott, Alaysia Glasford, Serena Goonewardene, Micah Looby, Zion Mills, Cody Moniz, Elias Reece, Jayden Smith and Selah Wilson.
“The Moral Hazards, who were comprised of students from Mr Mitchell’s Year 12 IB Economics class, also came away from the awards ceremony with an award for ‘Most Profitable Trade’ during the challenge.
Representative from KPMG, Ms. Kim Lightbourne, Cody Moniz, Micah Looby, Oliver Soares [Captain] Elias Reece, Selah Wilson, Ryan Curruthers, Alaysia Glasford, Jaden Smith, Cameron Addiscott, Zion Mills & Minister of Education Crystal Ceaser.
“Many teams struggled to achieve a positive return on their investment, with recent trading policies being implemented by the United States government impacting global markets. The Enterprise Explorers’ strategy of holding off investing in the markets paid off, capitalising on less exposure to the economic uncertainty surrounding tariffs and protectionist policies affecting global trade.
“Each team consisted of ten students and had a fictitious $100,000 dollars to invest in various stock exchanges around the world. The digital platform StockTrak allowed students to purchase shares in real time and experience both the elation of their portfolio rising in value, and the heartbreak of their share prices crashing. Specific rules restricted students’ abilities to invest all their funds in just a few companies, or to allow them to day trade, purchase exchange-traded funds [ETFs] or short stocks. Instead, the aim of the challenge was for students to learn about analysing market data and making longer-term investments to build up a profitable portfolio of securities.
“The $10,000 prize will be split numerous ways. A portion of the funds will go towards the students’ prom; further portions will go towards the student bursary to help financially challenged students continue to attend Warwick Academy, towards a lunch for the participating teams and towards purchasing resources to aid student learning and knowledge in the Business, Economics and Computing Department.
“All the students and staff at Warwick Academy involved in KPMG’s Investment Challenge would like to publicly thank KPMG for this amazing opportunity. Financial literacy is so important in today’s world, and the experience is something that not only helped students prepare for their own financial well-being as they graduate, but it also opened their eyes to possible career opportunities in the financial sector.”
