RCHS sets record in Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge
From left to right: Jacob Messenger, Jake Roblyer, Christian Butler, Eric Young, Leighton Koldyke, and Nick Caldwell earned a first place finish in the afternoon session of the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge.
By Lisa Nicklanovich; photos courtesy of RCHS
The Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge took place on November 3 at the University of Denver and the High School of Business students from Rock Canyon High School (RCHS) raised the bar. More than 40 teams were given $500,000 to invest (yes, it was mock stock). Their challenge was to try and multiply the money in an hour by buying and selling in 26 different fictitious companies.
The equivalent of two months of trading were condensed into an exciting 80 minutes, with each trading day lasting only 80 seconds. Frenzied traders had to react to the market’s ups and downs through periodic news releases and tips reflecting fictitious world events and industry developments, causing stock prices to fluctuate. 
William Kong, Dylan Nurse, Colby Weintraub and Josh Pusar of Castle Pines Village, at the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge after they earned a first place finish in the morning session of the competition.
The winning RCHS team from the morning session included Josh Pusar (CPV), William Kong, Dylan Nurse and Colby Weintraub. In the afternoon session, RCHS swept the competition, winning first, second, third, fourth and fifth place. The first place team, consisting of Jacob Messenger, Jake Roblyer, Christian Butler (CP), Eric Young, Leighton Koldyke, and Nick Caldwell turned their $500,000 into more than $2.3 million. This set a record for the highest return by any team in the history of the 12-year event!
Janna Robinett, business instructor and department chair at RCHS, said, “Without this opportunity, the students wouldn’t get a real-life experience of how stocks work, how trading works and get to apply the curriculum they are getting every day in class.”
