After a tough start in the 19th Annual Senior School Investment Challenge, CedarBridge Academy clawed their way to the top to win the competition, for the second year in a row.

The OreoCookies won $10,000 for their school after 32 trades netted them a virtual profit of $34,014.47.

Business teacher and mentor Latoya Francis told The Royal Gazette that in the early months of the competition the team was at the bottom of the pile in rankings.

“I decided we needed to go back and do more research,” Ms Francis said.

That made all the difference.

Team member Chelsea Minors said: “Our strategy was to make sure we invested in things we knew were going to work. We did not want to just throw money at things.”

Chelsea was also in the winning team at CedarBridge last year.

“This time I did a little more research and figured out how to work it better than I did the first time,” Chelsea said.

Ms Francis said Chelsea’s previous experience was a great asset to the group.

After high school Chelsea hopes to use stock investment to fund an art career.

The team was made up of S4 students, in their second to last year at the school.

Team member Azzi Wolffe joined the OreoCookies with a prior interest in investment.

“I want to become a day trader,” he said.

He had faith that they would win, from the beginning.

Dekada Gilbert also came into the programme, already thinking about investment.

“I have bought up some non-fungible token art, with the aim of selling them to make a profit,” he said.

His dream is to become an auto mechanic.

“Investing in stocks will be a way to make a little extra money,” he said.

After dominating the challenge for several rounds, MSA’s team WallStreet Saints won second prize, with a virtual profit of $29,954.68 through 27 trades. Somersfield Academy’s Profit_Pioneers team was third with $24,712.33 of profit through 19 trades.

During the ceremony, Craig Bridgewater, challenge founder and Butterfield Bank group chief financial officer, said to have a successful career they needed technical expertise, a strong and robust network, and industry awareness.

His hope was that the challenge helped to check some of those boxes, and draw more young people into investment and finance.

Mr Bridgewater helped to launch the Senior School Investment Challenge in 2005. He was managing director of KPMG before joining Butterfield.

“The challenge is part of KPMG firm’s ongoing commitment to education and youth development,” he said.

Under the terms of the investment club-like initiative, senior schools are 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 were 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 were involved this year. KPMG said the challenge generated interest in investment and the capital markets and opened students to the various related professions.