Staples Junior Helps Charity Thru Virtual Stock Trading

Westport, CT -- Gregory Preiser, a junior at Staples High School, founded a club at his school called the ABC's of the Stock Market. Its mission is to learn about the world of investing by trading hypothetical portfolios (real investing is not permitted at High School Clubs) and listen to guest lecturers invited by the club. Preiser decided that the club could also have a charitable mission, specifically to help the ABC House in Westport. The organization (part of The Better Chance in Westport) was founded to give a number of outstanding and highly motivated minority youths the opportunity to live in Westport at the ABC House through their high school years and attend Staples High School.

"In order to accomplish this part of our mission, we used for the past two years a trading application that allowed club members to create a virtual portfolio of his or her own and make investment decisions using real time financial information from the stock market, and (hopefully) to earn virtual profits," Preiser explained. "Club members reached out to friends and family and asked for pledges based on their virtual profits, with a cap of $100 dollars per sponsor. The generosity of our sponsors was amplified by an anonymous donor agreeing to match every donation."

Preiser reports that Staples High School's ABC Stock Market Club delivered a check for $6100 last year, and has thus far has raised over $12,000 this year.

At the end of last year, the board of A Better Chance of Westport asked Preiser to organize a Teen Board comprised of high school students. The Teen Board’s mission is to help raise awareness of A Better Chance of Westport in the entire community. To accomplish this, the club has been selling bracelets with the Staples and A Better Chance of Westport logos and the Staples logo on cell phone accessories.

The club's first student-run fundraiser takes place on Friday, May 20th at Staples High School from 5 to 7pm. It is a three-on-three basketball tournament. Lori Sochol, head of fundraising at A Better Chance of Westport, will kick off the event with a message to all the students and parents that attend.

 

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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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