A CedarBridge Academy team has surged to the top of the KPMG 19th Annual Senior School Investment Challenge, and holds a slim lead after the fourth month.

The meteoric rise of OreoCookies in the standings comes after a total of 22 trades, amassing just shy of $35,000 in mock earnings.

But the MSA team, WallStreet Saints, are just hundreds of dollars behind, having made no trades in January or February, as they coast off of the sparkling 15 trades they made early on.

Also coming on strong is the Berkeley Institute team, The Capitalist, which has made 68 trades since November and is in third place with $125,453.37.

OreoCookies was in fifth place after November, then fell to thirteenth after December, fell further to sixteenth after January, before catapulting to the top spot at the end of February.

KPMG in Bermuda launched the Senior School Investment Challenge in 2005 as part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to education and youth development.

Under the terms of the investment club-like initiative, each school is permitted to enter teams, each of which is given $100,000 in virtual funds to mock trade over six months.

The teams are ranked in terms of how well their investments would have fared, had they actually been in the stock market.

At the end of the programme, real cash prizes are awarded to the first, second and third-placed teams. These funds can be used by the schools for a variety of educational initiatives.

A total of 21 teams from eight senior schools are involved. KPMG said the challenge generates interest in investment and the capital markets and opens students to the various related professions.

While the bottom of the tables team has grown its pot by more than 6 per cent, eight teams are up by more than 20 per cent since the Challenge began in November.