PHILADELPHIA, May 29, 2014 – Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS) and Aberdeen Asset Management Inc., a global asset management firm with U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, are pleased to announce that High Technology High School of Lincroft, N.J., Northwest High School of Germantown, Md., and Korea International School of Pangyo, South Korea, have won the 2013-2014 KWHS/Aberdeen Investment Competition.

Teams from High Technology High School, Northwest High School and Korea International School were selected from among an elite group of more than 30 high schools nationwide and globally that participated in the competition. The winning high schools were announced during an event on May 29 at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where the top analyst teams received prizes of $3,500, $1,500 and $500 respectively.

Ten teams of high school students competed during the event for the honor of top analysts. Those included the winners — HTHS Investment Club from High Technology High School, The Stockers from Northwest, and Risky Business from Korea International School — and the remaining finalists, The Seven Stocketeers and Future Legacy from Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia; 1% Asset Management and Upper Middle Class from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y.; Short & Stocky from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.; Team Marshmallow from Williamsburg Academy, a cyber school; and Toga Investments from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, Calif. While HTHS, The Stockers, The Seven Stocketeers, Future Legacy, Short & Stocky and 1% Asset Management presented in person on the Wharton campus, the remaining teams presented via Skype. Team Marshmallow’s members delivered their presentation simultaneously from Georgia, Nevada, Utah and California, with their teacher online from Illinois.

To kick off the event, surprise guest Jack Abraham, founder of Milo.com — which was sold to eBay for a reported $75 million — Skyped in with words of advice and inspiration from Italy. In the investment competition case study, Abraham is the potential client for whom the analyst teams of students are building a portfolio and investment strategy. Abraham is also featured in a popular KWHS article about successful entrepreneurship.

“Aberdeen is proud to support talented students and encourage financial education in high school curriculums,” says Gary Marshall, Chief Executive Officer at Aberdeen. “The students not only learn how to wisely invest and increase returns, they also gain invaluable professional and relevant experience that can be applied to their financial and career decisions.”

Aberdeen has partnered with Knowledge@Wharton High School, a Wharton School initiative that promotes financial literacy, business skills, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students and teachers through innovative content and competitions like the Investment Competition. Now in its third year, the competition has expanded past its initial Philadelphia focus to include schools from 12 different states and South Korea.

“While understanding how to buy and sell stocks is one component of our investment competition, it is not the fundamental goal,” notes Diana Drake, managing editor of KWHS.“ As with all our KWHS business resources — including lesson plans, articles and a video glossary – we want to give teachers and students the tools to become more financially literate and, in this case, learn the concepts that support sound investment decision making. We were all extremely impressed with the range of investment knowledge that the students showed during today’s strategy presentations.”

Over the past five months, students at participating high schools have managed virtual portfolios of stocks using a Wharton trading platform known as OTIS. Students and teachers are able to use the platform, along with KWHS articles and lesson plans, as resources to learn basic tenants of investing and create well-thought-out, logical investment strategies.

Kevin Murley, a business teacher at Montgomery Blair High School who has had two teams reach the investment competition finale, has come to value the experience in many ways.

“Our students have received tremendous benefit from participating in the investing challenge offered by Knowledge at Wharton High School and sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management,” notes Murley, whose team, Superiority Investment, won last year’s competition. “In many investing competitions, students are judged solely by their stock market results during a short time frame. In many cases, they leave having formed bad habits while chasing after risky trading strategies. In this competition, the students are required to develop a strategy paper that serves as the basis for a long-term outlook. They do have fun making trades and trying ideas via a stock market simulator, but just earning a higher dollar figure does not define success with the project. During the finals, the students have the opportunity to present and interact with professionals from Aberdeen Asset Management. The experience gained from going through a professional presentation and responding to tough questions from investment professionals has helped my students start to understand why their education is important and has helped them imagine where they can go in life if they continue to college and manage their money well.”

PHILADELPHIA, May 19, 2014—The top 10 finalist teams have been announced in the KWHS-Aberdeen 2014 Investment Competition. The competition, run by Knowledge@Wharton High School and sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, kicked off back in December 2013. For the next 22 weeks, more than 60 teams from 17 different high schools built portfolios through the Wharton OTIS stock-trading simulation and developed strategies using the investment concepts they were learning in class.

Trading ended in early May, and student teams submitted final investment policies on May 13. The finalists, selected from 60 final policies, will compete for the prize of top analyst during the finale event at Wharton on May 29. The top 10 teams are: 1% Asset Management from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y.;  Future Legacy from Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia; HTHS Investment Club from High Technology High School in Lincroft, N.J.; Risky Business from Korea International School in South Korea; Seven Stocketeers from Bodine in Philadelphia; Short & Stocky from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.; Team Marshmallow from Williamsburg Academy, a cyber school; The Stockers from Northwest High School in Germantown, Md.; Toga Investments from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, Calif.; and Upper Middle Class from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y.

Aberdeen Asset Management is a global asset management firm with U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia. Knowledge@Wharton High School is an initiative of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania that promotes business, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students and educators around the world through quality content and competitions.

PHILADELPHIA, May 8, 2013 – Knowledge@Wharton High School and Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. (“Aberdeen”), a global asset management firm with U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, are pleased to announce that William W. Bodine High School of Philadelphia and Montgomery Blair High School of Silver Spring, Maryland, have won the 2013 Investment Competition in the Philadelphia and National Team categories respectively.

Teams from William W. Bodine and Montgomery Blair were selected from among an elite group of more than 18 high schools nationwide that participated in the competition. The winning high schools were announced during an event on May 7th at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where both schools were each presented with a $2,500 prize.

Ten teams of students competed during that event, five from Philadelphia and five from schools in other states, for the honor of top analysts. Those included the winners — Centsational from Bodine and Superiority Investment from Montgomery Blair — and the remaining finalists, The Seven Aces and Team Dream High from Bodine; Stock Matrix and Stock Gladiators from IMHOTEP Charter in Philadelphia; 4 Chicks and a Dude from Southwest Miami High School in Florida; The Exceptional La La Lamps from Pine River Backus High School in Minnesota, iBankers from Neuqua Valley High School in Illinois; and The Group from The Springfield Renaissance School in Massachusetts. While Bodine, IMHOTEP and Montgomery Blair presented live on the Wharton campus, the remaining teams presented remotely over Skype.

“Aberdeen is proud to support talented students and encourage financial education in high school curriculums,” says Gary Marshall, Chief Executive Officer at Aberdeen. “The students not only learn how to wisely invest and increase returns, they also gain invaluable professional and relevant experience that can be applied to their financial and career decisions.”

Aberdeen has partnered with Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS), a Wharton School initiative that promotes financial literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students and teachers through innovative content and competitions like the Investment Challenge. Now in its second year, the competition has expanded past its initial Philadelphia focus to include schools from 11 different states across the U.S.

“While understanding how to buy and sell stocks is one component of our investment competition, it is not the fundamental goal,” notes Diana Drake, managing editor of KWHS. “As with all our KWHS business resources — including lesson plans, articles and a video glossary –we want to give teachers and students the tools to become more financially literate and, in this case, learn the concepts that support sound investment decision making. We were all extremely impressed with the range of investment knowledge that the students showed during today’s strategy presentations.”

Over the past seven months, students at participating high schools have managed virtual portfolios of stocks using a Wharton trading platform known as OTIS. Students and teachers are able to use the platform, along with KWHS articles and lesson plans, as resources to learn basic tenants of investing and create well-thought-out, logical investment strategies.

“Investing is not an easy subject to teach, and this platform helps connect students with stocks by making it a relevant experience,” says Maggie Wohltmann, a business teacher at Teaneck High School in Teaneck, N.J., who guided several student teams through the competition.“The competition allows students to go beyond the basics to develop a strategy and sales pitch which gives them insight into possible careers and to develop a thought process behind choosing certain investments.”

“Participating in the Aberdeen/KWHS Investment Competition was without a doubt a great experience,” says Manas Gosavie, a senior from Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, IL. “The task of managing a portfolio based on client expectations and risk management went above and beyond any typical trading competition and put our quantitative and qualitative abilities to the test.”

Over the course of the competition, Aberdeen representatives met with participating classes, facilitating class activities and discussing their careers. Aberdeen hopes the competition will not only enhance participating students’ financial literacy, but also raise awareness on the types of careers that are available to them.

“The program aims to raise awareness of careers in financial services, and by expanding the reach of the competition we hope to inspire students across the country to think about careers in investment management,” says Marshall. “The most important thing is for students to have fun and learn skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.”

A group of aspiring financial wizards got to experience the inner workings of an asset management firm on June 1, when 15 high school students and their teachers arrived at the offices of Aberdeen Asset Management in downtown Philadelphia. The students, representing IMHOTEP Charter School, MAST Community Charter and Furness High School – all located in Philadelphia – were among the top-performing teams in the Knowledge@Wharton High School Philadelphia Investment Competition, sponsored by Aberdeen.

The Investment Competition, a free, online investment simulation for students and teachers, challenged student teams from five high schools to manage a portfolio of $100,000 in virtual cash over a 10-week period. Students were rewarded for their return on investments – how well their portfolios performed — and for their investment strategies. “We didn’t want to focus the entire competition on how much money you had coming in,” noted Julien Franklin, an Aberdeen marketing associate who helped instruct teachers and students throughout the competition. “We wanted you to demonstrate your thought process. We know that in 10 weeks time, your investment strategies don’t always pan out. We [want to know] you have been thinking things out in a clear, thoughtful manner.”

The three teams presented their strategies to a panel of Aberdeen experts during the June 1 visit. MAST Community Charter talked up its diverse portfolio, including stocks like Amazon, Apple, Best Buy and JC Penney. It also detailed its short selling strategy, which enabled the team to profit from the falling price of a stock by borrowing a security from a broker and selling it, with the understanding that it must later be bought back and returned to the broker. The IMHOTEP team, which used a more traditional “buy low, sell high” strategy, focused its presentation on the strengths and weaknesses of one of its key investments, Exxon Mobil, because of America’s dependence on oil. Furness High’s investors researched stock ratings, choosing those companies with a rating of seven or above to include in their portfolio.

In the end, the IMHOTEP students scored the winning strategy (becoming the first winners of the KWHS Investment Competition), taking home $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards and $5,000 for their school. The team’s thorough stock examination — for instance, evaluating Exxon Mobil’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats through a SWOT analysis and using Porter’s Five Forces to look at the health of entire industries — contributed to their victory.

“It was a learning experience,” said Leonard Brown, an IMHOTEP sophomore who led his team’s presentation. “I didn’t know what the stock market was. I’m not going to say I fully understand it now, but I can speak about it. I wouldn’t look at it as a career choice, but maybe I will invest in stock in my private life to have that income.” Added teammate Ajee Miller, also a sophomore: “ At first I didn’t want to do this, but I like money. I liked the competition and how we held on. Even though we started losing money, we didn’t give up. I learned a lot.”

It was also a learning experience for IMHOTEP educator Ife C. Parker, an American history teacher who decided to take on the competition despite knowing little about the stock market. “Students learn more working on projects than just regular lessons; their learning is determined by them,” noted Parker. “I wouldn’t have been able to give them any direction without the [Knowledge@Wharton High School] lesson plans, articles and videos. It was intimidating for me and for the students at first, but we made the commitment that we could do this. I was learning with them.”

March 22, 2021 kicked off an incredible week for the Wharton Global Youth Program as we celebrated all the hard work and financial brilliance of the 2020-2021 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition finalist teams during five regional finals.

This week’s virtual events, led by Wharton Global Youth Executive Director Eli Lesser, featured recorded words of inspiration from this year’s investment competition client, Florian Hagenbuch, and live insights from some of the judges, all of whom watched and scored the top 10 investment competition presentations in their individual regions to ultimately select the top 3 winning regional teams.

We also heard from the student team leaders, who introduced their teammates from around the world and delivered thought-provoking advice and ideas about the creativity, financial knowledge and personal growth they experienced throughout their competition journeys.

A special thank you to this year’s sponsors, Citibank N.A. Singapore for Regions 1 and 2 and BTG Pactual for Region 4.

During the Region 2 event, Rahul Ghosh, Citi’s client segment head for Asia and the EMEA region, said, “Every team’s presentation taught me a lot and was different, with nuances. I could see the character of the teams coming through…And especially in this pandemic atmosphere, I could understand to what extent each one of you went beyond your normal life to learn this and get it done.” Added Felip Gotlieb, associate partner of BTG Pactual, during the region 4 presentation: “This competition is an example of discipline in our professional lives… You will face many competitions like this and discipline should be key to systematically being in the finals like you are today.”

Without further ado, the regional winners of this year’s Wharton Global High School Investment Competition are:

Region 1

1. Polaris2020, The Experimental School Affiliated with Zhuhai No. 1, China (Team Leader: Yunfei F.)
2. CREDO, International School of Beijing, China (Boheng (Bill) D.)
3. World No. 1, Shanghai High School International Division, China (John W.)

Region 2

1. TSRSM Capital, The Shri Ram School, Moulsari, India (Vansh J.)
2. Fox in the Box Investments, Amity International School, Vasundhara, Sector 6, India (Srishti C.)
3. The Wolves of Wall Street, Dubai International Academy – Emirates Hills, UAE (Raghav C.)

Region 3A (United States)

1. Planty Investment, Walton High School, Georgia (Tyler W.)
2. M&R Investments, Marvin Ridge High School, North Carolina (Esha S.)
3. MOSAIC, Clarkstown High School North, New York (Sanjay K.)

Region 3B (United States)

1. Wells Street Capital, Walter Payton College Preparatory High School – Illinois (Leo K.)
2. Avant-Garde Investments, Tesla STEM High School – Washington (Dhruv S.)
3. Team CRUX, Coppell High School – Texas (Amita S.)

Region 4

1. Poutine Potatoes, Saint Robert Catholic High School – Ontario, Canada (Laura G.)
2. Eagles Value Added, Graded American School of São Paulo, Brazil (Caio S.)
3. NP_Investment, Novy PORG Gymnazium, Czech Republic (Otakar K.)

The top two teams from each region will advance to the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Global Finale in May, 2021. Additionally, the top three teams will receive plaques and free access to our online Understanding Your Money course. All finalist teams receive certificates and digital badges to display on their social media and electronic résumés.

Congratulations to the regional winners of the 2020-2021 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition! Stay tuned for all the details about our upcoming Global Finale, as well as information about the opening of registration for our next investment competition this fall. May your new knowledge be the foundation of wise and wonderful financial decisions throughout your lives.

Though much has changed in the world this past year, one thing has not: robust participation in our annual Wharton Global High School Investment Competition, which began in late September 2020.

At the end of December, the Wharton Global Youth Program received 972 final reports from teams in 35 countries, nearly doubling last year’s final submissions. After careful review by our internal team and a group of professional asset managers from Aberdeen Standard Investments, we have selected this year’s regional finalists.

The top 50 teams advancing to the 2021 Regional Finals are:

Region 1

• CREDO: International School of Beijing, China
• GoalGoalFund: St. Paul’s Co-educational College, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
• KARAS: Tsinghua International School, China
• MoneyMaster: Northeast Yucai school China, China
• Navigator: Shenzhen Foreign Languages School, China
• Polaris2020: The Experimental School Affiliated with Zhuhai No.1 High School, China
• SFLS-8f1: Shanghai Foreign Language School, China
• Team UG: Shanghai High School International Division, China
• Wildwolf Investment Club: YK Pao School, China
• World No. 1: Shanghai High School International Division, China

Region 2

• BullsEye: National Public School, India
• Financial Miners: Indian Language School, Nigeria
• Fox in the Box Investments: Amity International School, Vasundhara Sector 6, India
• Gearshift Investments: Amity International School, Sector-44, Noida, U.P., India
• Hatchet Capital: Global Jaya School, Indonesia
• Melon Musk: Neerja Modi School, India
• Stockwarts: Amity International School Sector 43 Gurgaon, India
• The Beacon Brokers: Amity International School, Saket, India
• The Wolves of Wall Street: Dubai International Academy, Emirates Hills, United Arab Emirates
• TSRSM Capital: The Shriram School, Moulsari, India

 Region 3-A (United States)

• All For The Cookies: The Lawrenceville School, New Jersey
• Beyond Investing: Union County Magnet High School, New Jersey
• Big Blue: Phillips Academy, Massachusetts
• Females in Finance: Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York
• Hornets Capital: Hackley School, New York
• M&R Investments: Marvin Ridge High School, North Carolina
• MOSAIC-a41: Clarkstown High School North, New York
• Owl Investments: Regis High School, New York
• Planty Investments: Walton High School, Georgia
• REBELS Investment Group: William A. Shine Great Neck South High School, New York

Region 3-B (United States)

• Amethyst Investments: Naperville Central High School, Illinois
• Avant-Garde Investments: Tesla STEM High School, Washington
• Daedalus Investments: William Mason High School, Ohio
• I’m Not A Stocker: The Harker School, California
• Pitch Please: Clayton High School, Missouri
• Plutus Investments: Portola High School, California
• Spartans 821: Pleasant Valley High School, Iowa
• TEAM CRUX: Coppell High School, Texas
• The Exchange: Westwood High School, Texas
• Wells Street Capital: Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, Illinois

Region 4

• Astera: Brockton, Canada
• Black Mamba Vértice:, Colégio Vértice, Brazil
• Canis Lupus: Upper Canada College, Canada
• Eagles Value Added: Graded American School of São Paulo, Brazil
• Gryphon Group: Brisbane State High School, Australia
• Hive Investments: Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro, Brazil
• NP_investment1: Novy PORG Gymnazium, Czech Republic
• Orobó Capital: Colégio Santa Cruz, Brazil
• Poutine Potatoes: St. Robert Catholic High School, Canada
• YHL Unlimited: Kristin School, New Zealand

On behalf of our Global Youth team and this year’s competition sponsors — Citibank N.A. Singapore for Regions 1 and 2 and BTG Pactual for Region 4 — congratulations to this year’s regional finalists! And to all the thousands of competing students and advisors, we appreciate your time, energy and enthusiasm for this year’s Wharton Global High School Investment Competition. Those of you who submitted final reports should have received surveys to tell us the highs and lows of your competition journey. Please fill them out, so we can continue to build a fun, educational and engaging competition experience.

We hope you will check back here, as well as read our monthly newsletter, to stay connected to Wharton Global Youth and to follow the progress of the top teams as they compete virtually in the regional rounds in March 2021 to determine which teams will move on to the Global Finale in May. And don’t forget to check out our Meet the Experts videos recorded throughout the competition for on-demand conversations with top professionals in finance and entrepreneurship.

Wherever your post-competition journey leads you…happy investing!

The Wharton Global Youth Program celebrated a first on Tuesday, April 7: the announcement of the top three teams in Region 1 of the 2019-2020 Wharton Global Investment Competition – on a special live Zoom webinar.

And, of course, we also celebrated the Region 1 winners:

• 1st Place: Money Scooper, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• 2nd Place: SH Reeves, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• 3rd Place: Plutus, Saint Paul Preparatory School, Seoul, South Korea

While we could never have imagined when this year’s investment competition kicked off back in October 2019 that we would be hosting a virtual final in April for the top 12 teams from eastern and central Asia, the coronavirus pandemic has demanded that all of us respond to our new at-home reality with innovation.

That’s just what the top student teams did in March, when we asked them to create final video presentations detailing their team investment strategies and competition experiences and submit them online. Students then replied in writing to questions about their presentations, and a panel of industry judges – including Patrick Yung of Independence Blue Cross, Yanbing Qiu of CICC Fund and Hansi Mo of China Merchants Bank — selected the winning teams.

“Building an investment strategy is a tough and time-consuming process, but we deeply appreciate what we have learned from it.” — Kelly H., Team Leader, 1st Place Money Scooper

During Monday’s live webinar announcement for team leaders, team members and advisors, Wharton Global Youth Program executive director Eli Lesser thanked Region 1 sponsor China Merchants Bank for its support of the competition. To the teams, he said, “We know this is a difficult time for you as students and your families as well, and we want to thank you for continuing to compete with us. We are really excited to share this announcement tonight of the winners and also to welcome our top three teams to the Global Finale in May.” Competition “client” Reshma Sohoni, for whom all 533 competing teams around the world created their investment strategies, wished the Region 1 finalists well in a special video message.

Following the webinar, Kelly H., leader of the 1^st place team Money Scooper (which also participated in the 2018-2019 competition), shared her team’s reaction to the big news. “We feel incredibly excited and grateful that our hard work over the past two years has paid off. This result is rewarding, and we are thrilled because we never dreamt of reaching first place. Building an investment strategy is a tough and time-consuming process, but we deeply appreciate what we have learned from it. We definitely cherish this precious opportunity, and we all look forward to the global finale.”

The Wharton Global Youth Program will be announcing the winners of Region 3 on Monday, April 13, during a live Zoom webinar for that region’s top teams. You can also read about the results of February’s Region 4 and Region 2 finals. The investment competition’s virtual Global Finale for the top teams from all four regions is scheduled for Friday, May 8. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for all the results.

Congratulations to our Region 1 winners!

It was 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 22 at the Infosys Limited headquarters in Electronics City, Bangalore, India. While the walkways were clear for the weekend of the thousands of employees who regularly strolled the campus, the activity was frenetic around the N. Narayan Murthy building.

High school students from across India clustered in small groups on the back lawn, practicing presentations and encouraging teammates; Bhawna Bhardwaj, an educator from Amity International School, Vasundhara, talked excitedly on her cell phone; and students from Jayshree Periwal School in Jaipur, India, crowded around a table of judges while they sipped their morning coffee and enjoyed a hot breakfast.

“It’s time!” announced Kisha Gupta, head of global academic relations at Infosys and the day’s host in partnership with the Wharton Global Youth Program. Soon enough, the nearly 100 students, teachers, parents and executives filed into the high-tech R. N. Tata Hall and were greeted with these words: Welcome to the 2020 KWHS Investment Competition Region 2 Final!

What unfolded over the next five hours was a showcase of incredible poise, knowledge and presentation prowess as the top 12 student teams from Region 2 – 11 from India and one from Singapore – presented the colorful details of their winning investment strategies and KWHS Investment Competition experiences to the room and a panel of five financial professionals. This year’s judges included Shamita Chaterjee, senior vice president and global head of compensation and benefits at Infosys; Vivek Kulkarni, founder of Brickwork Ratings in Bangalore; Rajat Kumar, chief of staff of GirnarSoft; Rajesh Sehgal, founder and managing partner of Equanimity Investments in Mumbai; and Yatrik Vin, group chief financial officer of the National Stock Exchange of India in Mumbai.

“We believe each group has equally unique and valuable experiences.” — Kevin Zhang, Team East Capital K

It was the culmination of 12 weeks of investment portfolio and strategy development, supported by teamwork, research, innovative thinking, Wharton resources, and teaching and motivation from team advisors and mentors. Presenters delivered insights on the requirements of their case study client, Reshma Sohoni, long-term and short-term investment goals, stock-selection strategies, asset allocation, portfolio values, global competitiveness, risk management and creative portfolio personalities. Overall team quality was incredibly strong. In the end, however, three Region 2 teams took home trophies.

The teams advancing to the Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia on May 8 and 9 to compete against the top three teams from the three other competition regions are:

1. East Capital K, United World College of South East Asia, Singapore
2. Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
3. Mavericks, Amity International School, Sector-46, Gurugram, India

East Capital K, which likened the U.S. stock market to Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant, created a client-focused top-down approach and identified industry leaders in sustainable practice as part of their approach. Scion Capital, working the chess analogy, created a PAWN score for Portfolio Analysis Weighted Numeric. The PAWN score assessed six different financial prospects of businesses in alignment with client Sohoni’s interests. Mavericks, building on Sohoni’s love of food, designed the NUTRITION strategy, which considered News, Undervalued stocks, Technical analysis, Responsible investments, Integrated analysis, Turbulence, Industry, Opportunity and Novelty in selecting stocks for their team portfolio.

The judges, who questioned each team for five minutes following their presentations, praised the students’ level of knowledge and sophistication with new investing concepts and urged all of them to build on this foundation of teamwork and skills, regardless of the careers they pursue. Many of the teams like the MillenZees from Amity International School in Gurugram, also incorporated a financial literacy component into their competition journey, sharing their new knowledge and financial confidence with younger students and others throughout their community. That social mission, agreed the judges, was truly inspiring.

The announcement of the winners was met with cheers and tears – and lots of questions and reflections. “These past few months have truly been unforgettable,” said Kevin Zhang, team leader of East Capital K, which was unable to travel to Bangalore due to the coronavirus outbreak, but presented virtually on February 22 over the Web X platform. They became the first virtual team to ever win a regional final. “My main takeaway isn’t the amount of technical knowledge, formulas and models I’ve picked up, but rather, the skills in leadership and interaction that I’ve developed as a result of close collaboration, support, and sleepless nights with a wonderful team,” added Zhang. “We went into this hoping for the best, but never expecting anything, and seeing the result today was a huge shock to all of us.”

And while the top teams often win the glory, this year’s Region 2 final represented countless vibrant stories of devotion, empowerment and challenging team dynamics. Take, for instance, CitD, or Chai in the Desert Investments. The truly international team included members form Saudi Arabia, India and Malaysia (hailing from South Korea). “We faced considerable challenges with respect to team dynamics due to the fact we spanned five of the 24 time zones,” noted team leader Vikramaditya Singh.

As another successful Region 2 Final ended, observers commented on the commitment and creativity on display from all the teams. Said judge Kumar as he sat down in the deliberation room over lunch: “This is an incredibly difficult decision.” Perhaps East Capital K’s Zhang summed it up best: “As a team, we know that just because we won this time doesn’t make us a better team than all the others. We believe each group has equally unique and valuable experiences. However, we are all ecstatic in knowing that our win today will extend our journey further, as we try to push on even harder for the Global Finals.”

Be sure to read about the winners from the Region 4 Final in São Paulo on February 15, and we are preparing for the Region 3 Final, to be held on March 16 at Wharton in San Francisco. The Wharton Global Youth Program will see you in Philadelphia!

On April 13, 2020, the Wharton Global Youth Program announced the top three teams in Region 3 of the 2019-2020 KWHS Investment Competition. Student competitors, advisors and judges logged on at 6:00 p.m. eastern time for a live Zoom webinar led by Wharton Global Youth executive director, Eli Lesser.

Region 3 (North America, Europe, Africa and Oceania) had 260 competing teams, including 1,328 students and 115 advisors. The top 12 teams in the region, which submitted final videotaped presentations on March 23 that were judged virtually, joined Monday night’s webinar to discover which three teams would advance to the competition Global Finale.

And the Region 3 winners are:

1. 1st Place: Over the Moon Investments, Maclay School, Florida, U.S.
2. 2nd Place: Compass Capital, Walter Payton College Prep, Illinois, U.S.
3. 3rd Place: Females in Finance, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, U.S.

A panel of industry judges reviewed each of the top 12 reports and selected the winners. They were: Claire Kinney, W’82 and WG’86, (Former) Managing Director, Wells Capital Management; Jonathan Coslet, W’87, Chief Investment Officer, TPG; Heather Crist, Head of Field Engagement, UBS Wealth Management USA; and Jeanette Ourada, WG’92, (Former) Vice President & Corporate Comptroller at Chevron.

“In my experience in business, diverse teams almost always deliver superior results.” — Jeanette Ourada, Region 3 Judge

Ourada spoke to the teams during the Zoom announcement. “All of you are further along in your finance journey than I was at your age. I didn’t really discover finance until I was a graduate student at Wharton,” noted Ourada. “I was so impressed with the quality of your video presentations. You all did a very good job demonstrating the financial knowledge that you learned through the course of the competition. The other thing I would applaud is you articulating your journey as a team. That was sometimes just as complicated as understanding those financial concepts. The other thing I noticed is the diversity of the teams. In my experience in business, diverse teams almost always deliver superior results.”

Competition “client” Reshma Sohoni, for whom all 533 competing teams around the world created their investment strategies, wished the Region 3 finalists well in a special video message.

The April 13 Region 3 results complete the 2019-2020 investment competition regional finals round. Following the virtual announcement on April 7 of the Region 1 winners and the previous Region 4 and Region 2 events held in February in Brazil and India, we have identified the top three teams from each region.

Here are this year’s best teams (by order of region and regional-final placement) that will be competing in the virtual Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Global Finale on May 8, 2020:

• Money Scooper, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• SH Reeves, Shanghai High School International Division, Shanghai, China
• Plutus, Saint Paul Preparatory School, Seoul, South Korea
• East Capital K, United World College of South East Asia, Singapore
• Scion Capital, Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India
• Mavericks, Amity International School, Sector-46, Gurugram, India
• Maple Tree Capital, Colégio Santa Cruz, São Paulo, Brazil
• Lions of Wall Street, St. Paul’s School, São Paulo, Brazil
• Eagles Value Added, Graded American School of São Paulo, Brazil
• Over the Moon Investments, Maclay School, Florida, U.S.
• Compass Capital, Walter Payton College Prep, Illinois, U.S.
• Females in Finance, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, U.S.

Congratulations to the top 12 investment competition teams from around the globe!

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to the KWHS Bulletin for the results. Visit the Wharton Global Youth High School Investment Competition page for details about the upcoming 2020-2021 competition season.