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The Town Crank
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Apr
24
Written by:
Steve Erbach
Saturday, April 24, 2010 6:13 AM
Except for the final auditing to be done by the SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education -- the organizer of the event -- the 5th-grade Tullar Elementary School team, #26, won the Spring 2010 state-wide Stock Market Game competition.
My daughter Eleanor's Tullar Elementary School team, advised by 5th-grade teacher Tim Hopfensperger, beat out 1,387 other teams state-wide. I don't know the total participation of high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools, but I do know that out of the top 100 teams, 61 were high school teams, 32 were from middle schools, and 7 were from elementary schools...and five of those were from Tullar!
Each team started out with $100,000 and could "borrow" up to $100,000 more. The objective, of course, was to end up with the highest "total equity" after selling off the team's holdings, paying all brokerage fees, and paying back any loans with interest. Eleanor's team increased its holdings by $60,218 or 60.2%. The 2nd place team from De Pere High School increased it's holdings by $49,613 or 49.6%. The winning margin was $10,605, or 21.4% more than the 2nd place team.
This is the third time in the last four years that teams from Tullar Elementary advised by Mr. Hopfensperger have won the state-wide contest. I would think that Mr. H. has a future in investments if he chooses to retire from the teaching profession! That is an astounding record. And, based on what he told me last week, with the results of this year's contest, 9 of his teams have finished in the top 10 state-wide since 2001, which includes the three winners.
The winning team will go to New York City and go down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. They'll visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and take in a Broadway play (I hope it's "Spamalot"!!). They'll stay in a "five star" hotel for one night and fly back the next day. A whirlwind tour, indeed!
I am having trouble typing this around my chest because it's so swelled with pride.
Here are the FINAL standings of the top 15 teams in Wisconsin:
| Rank |
Team ID |
% Return
Above
S&P 500 |
Total Equity |
Region |
School |
Advisor |
| 1 |
826 |
45.03 |
$160,217.92 |
ES |
TULLAR ELEMENTARY |
Hopfensperger, Tim |
| 2 |
1210 |
36.43 |
$149,613.36 |
HS |
DE PERE HIGH |
Boyd, James |
| 3 |
1261 |
31.91 |
$145,093.27 |
HS |
DE PERE HIGH |
Boyd, James |
| 4 |
596 |
30.72 |
$141,051.23 |
HS |
DODGEVILLE HIGH |
Bradley, Jeff |
| 5 |
994 |
27.03 |
$140,212.11 |
HS |
RONCALLI HIGH SCHOOL |
Hendricks, Paul |
| 6 |
1224 |
26.73 |
$139,908.92 |
HS |
DE PERE HIGH |
Boyd, James |
| 7 |
27 |
28.92 |
$139,905.16 |
MS |
ST MARTIN OF TOURS |
Dean, Michelle |
| 8 |
857 |
25.25 |
$138,436.08 |
HS |
SUN PRAIRIE HIGH |
Grundahl, Nathan |
| 9 |
825 |
23.07 |
$138,265.93 |
ES |
TULLAR ELEMENTARY |
Hopfensperger, Tim |
| 10 |
106 |
27.28 |
$138,262.91 |
HS |
MILTON HIGH |
Kenyon, Amy |
| 11 |
190 |
26.68 |
$137,667.75 |
HS |
SHULLSBURG HIGH |
Strang, Tim |
| 12 |
89 |
23.91 |
$134,893.36 |
MS |
BROOKFIELD ACADEMY |
Wasmer, Matt |
| 13 |
25 |
23.12 |
$134,102.18 |
MS |
ST MARTIN OF TOURS |
Dean, Michelle |
| 14 |
1153 |
19.86 |
$133,044.57 |
MS |
NATHAN HALE HIGH SCHOOL |
McAdams, Marilyn |
| 15 |
905 |
19.75 |
$132,933.77 |
HS |
THOMAS MORE HIGH SCHOOL |
Hoch, John |
You can see the two Tullar teams in the top 10. The other Tullar teams in the top 100 finished with Total Equities of $130,391, $129,150, and $121,628.
Here is an Excel graph of the last 7 trading days in the contest. I've labeled the lines and symbols to correspond to the team numbers in the table above:
I'm now going to go wake up my daughter and tell her the good news!
Tags:
4 comments so far...
Re: No more nail-biting! THEY WON!!
Congratulations! It's been fun following the Tullars. Hope they have fun in NYC!
By Herr Oberst on
Monday, April 26, 2010 7:03 AM
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Re: No more nail-biting! THEY WON!!
Colonel,
Thank you for the congrats, but, man! It's Eleanor's teacher that deserves the kudos. Miss E has a cold and a bit of a temperature today, so I'm keeping her home from school. I went over to Tullar to drop off her homework and to give Mr. H. two graphs: one showing the top 15 and the other showing the top 30 in the state. The top 30 includes two more Tullar teams, but it looks like spaghetti!
Mr. H. told me that the "audit" by the Foundation for Investor Education shouldn't be anything more than a formality and that, by midweek, he'd have the final-final, really-and-for-true standings. I said to him that if Team 26's lead was only $5, then there'd be cause for uncertainty. But, man! Over $10,000?!?! Wow!
Hopfensperger is a real gentleman, very self-effacing and genuine. We are privileged to have him as Eleanor's teacher this year.
By tc on
Monday, April 26, 2010 8:27 AM
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Re: No more nail-biting! THEY WON!!
Then felicitations to Herr Hopfensperger, as well. Ever since you began this "series", I've wondered if Miss E's teacher is kin to Clayton Hopfensperger, who is a major god in the polka-music pantheon. CH was a valley-ite, born in Menasha and died in 1992. He wrote scads of well-known and loved polka genre songs, particularly for a very popular band of the 40's, 50's, and 60's called "The Red Ravens", fronted by a fellow named Lawrence Duchow. Hopfensperger wrote their theme song, "The Red Raven Polka", which has been recorded by probably 100 bands, and other standard titles in the polka library such as the "Snowflake Waltz". I met CH at the Cinderella Ballroom in Appleton many, many years ago when I was working with a band from Menasha (the "Rainbow Valley Dutchmen"). Should you encounter Mr. H the teacher again, if you determine he is in fact kin to Clayton Hopfensperger the musician/composer/arranger, you might mention that an old pal of yours who used to play bass horn has performed his tunes many times and sends greetings.
By Herr Oberst on
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 6:45 AM
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Re: No more nail-biting! THEY WON!!
I will! Mr. H. appears to be in his mid to late 30s. I've been corresponding with him regularly over this contest, as well as over Miss E's performance in school.
By tc on
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:49 AM
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