There are a lot of clubs at BHS, but for students with an interest in finance, there is one that rallies over the rest. 

”[We have] around 30 members,” Club President Rafael Rubeck said.

“You learn the principles of how the stock market works, and you can apply this knowledge later in life to make money, whether buying and selling stocks or putting money into a fund,” Rubeck said.

“I believe the stock market club is the most practical in school,” he added.

The club competes in monthly tournaments against other Ohio schools on a website called Ohiosmc.stocktrak.com.

“We are given $100 thousand in fake money, and we can use it to buy stocks and compete against other schools to see who earns the most money in a couple of months,” Freshman Isaac Gorodeski said.

“The website is a mirror of what a normal stock market exchange would look like…” he added. “The website tracks the normal market so you can buy any stock that is available normally.”

“One of the goals of the club is to [motivate students] enough to want to learn more about investing so that [students] can have an active role in managing their finances now and in the future,” said math teacher John Kaminski, who advises the club.

This goal has been successful for many club members.

“I believe that being in the stock club will give me more knowledge about stocks,” freshman Maurice Kaplan said. 

Beachwood’s stock club has a history of strong performance at the competition. 

“In Spring 2020, one of our teams won the contest, beating out over 400 other teams,” Kaminski said.  “Their return of 119% was the best by a wide margin.  In the Fall of 2020, another team finished 6th. This semester our best team is 42nd out of nearly 300 teams.” 

However, club members sometimes wonder about the fairness of the competition.

“Typically, the schools on the top of the competition are the more affluent schools and school districts, where there are more resources or parents who are [more familiar with the stock market],” Rubeck said.

But when asked whether Beachwood also has advantages over other schools, Rubeck acknowledged the possibility.

 “We do have the advantage of learning Mr. Kaminski’s financial knowledge and stock market expertise,” he said.