MADISON – Alabama Council on Economic Education honored three Horizon Elementary School students at its annual awards luncheon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Horizon sixth-graders Tallulah Harlow and Kathleen Stephens and fifth-grader Prashika Paudel were recognized at event on April 26 in UAB’s Hill Center, Horizon Gifted Specialist and Stock Market Game sponsor. Beth Bero said.  

Harlow and Stephens won first place in the Fall 2016 North Alabama Stock Market Game for grades 4-8. Paudel was honored as first-place winner for her economics essay in InvestWrite competition for grades 4-5.

Harlow, Stephens and Paudel were Horizon’s first-time, first-place winners in their contests. In another honor, fifth-grader Elinor Carlson earned an honorable mention in “Color the Concepts” competition.

Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer was the luncheon’s guest speaker

The economic council’s curriculum aligns with Alabama State Department of Education standards and graduation requirements. The primary goal is having knowledgeable citizens who make informed economic choices.

Economics is one study topic that students in Horizon’s gifted program can study. “Last fall, 22 fifth- and sixth-graders selected economics (and) participated in the Stock Market Game or wrote an essay for InvestWrite competition,” Bero said. These students also operated Horizon’s school store and created a business with BizWorld curriculum.

“The Stock Market Game is a simulation game where students use a hypothetical $100,000 to invest over a ten-week game. Their investments rise and fall with real-world stock values,” Bero said. InvestWrite essay competition is a culminating activity for the Stock Market Game.

Paudel’s essay discussed Coca-Cola’s company history and its possible mutual funds. As Coca-Cola’s founder John S. Pemberton, Paudel wrote, “I was a pharmacist from Atlanta, Ga who had an idea to make a new kind of soft drink. At home, I created a “fragrant caramel -colored liquid’ and took it to my local pharmacy.”

Personifying a stock, Paudel wrote that ‘she’ was sold first in 1919 after businessmen bought Coca-Cola for $25 million.

Prashika’s parents are Shishir and Pragya Paudel. Kathleen’s parents are Karlton and Janet Stephens. Tallulah is the daughter of Matthew and Katherine Harlow.

After the economic conference, Bero said her group “was impressed that so many people think economic education is important. I was glad to be a part and appreciate all work that the ACEE puts into these opportunities for the students.”

For more information, visit alcee.org.