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Rockwood Student Earns First in State, Eighth in Nation in InvestWrite Contest

Rockwood Student Earns First in State, Eighth in Nation in InvestWrite Contest

Marquette High freshman Alexa Kerber placed first in the state of Missouri and eighth in the nation in the spring 2024 InvestWrite essay competition.

Kerber, who completed her work as a Crestview Middle eighth-grader last spring, placed near the top of thousands of entries from middle school students nationally. InvestWrite is part of a family of financial education programs of the SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) Foundation that strengthens economic opportunity across communities and increases individuals’ awareness of and access to the benefits of the global marketplace.

Participating students play the SIFMA Stock Market Game, then complete InvestWrite essays based upon their experiences. Kerber and her classmates went through the process in Tara Matthews’ Academic Stretch class at Crestview this past spring.

“If I had to pick one student at the beginning of that unit that would have most likely won this contest, it would have been Alexa,” Matthews said. “She was interested and she already had some knowledge in the area. It was really solid financial research. She did a really good job of defending her reasoning for investing in this scenario.”

A Rockwood student and her family smile while holding a trophy and banner reading "InvestWrite 2023-2024 Winner"

Matthews, Marquette gifted teacher Megan Burian, school principal Dr. Tracey Waeckerle and Kerber’s family surprised Kerber with the good news at the school on Oct. 16.

Burian brought Kerber to the Welcome Center under the guise of wanting to discuss the upcoming water polo season with her. Once Kerber saw the InvestWrite banner and trophy displayed on a table, though, she had a pretty good idea about what was going on.

“I knew this was not about water polo,” she said, with a laugh. “It’s certainly surprising. We had heard about some local past winners, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

Kerber said she had limited knowledge about investments going into the Stock Market Game, outside of using her bank account and having some experience with compound interest.

Her essay centered on how her experience learning more about investments mirrored learning more about life as she grows up.

A Rockwood student and her teacher smile while holding a trophy and sign reading "InvestWrite 2023-2024 Winner"

“Finance is a really cool subject because it can help people in every area,” she said. “In the stock market, you can invest in things you believe in or want to help, no matter where you are or what you’re interested in.”

Kerber thanked Matthews and said she could not have achieved this honor without her tutelage.

“These lessons would go nowhere if you all didn’t take them and run with them and learn by doing,” Matthews said.

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