Stock quote ticker gives business students real world experience


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Students walk to classes in the Grawn Hall. Above them, the newly installed stock quote ticker shows real-time stock market data for business students to analyze.

Students in the College of Business and Administration can now make real world stock market decisions using the stock quote ticker circling the financial trading lab in Grawn Hall. 

The ticker was installed over winter break and provides up-to-the-minute financial information.

“It’s expensive and we wouldn’t be able to do that if it weren’t for the generous support of the alumni who have given back to their alma mater,” said Dean Charles Crespy.

The ticker, which cost $30,000 to install, will eventually include stocks in maroon and gold, depicting the student’s own portfolio stocks. The college has two finance portfolios, the Martha Segar fund, which holds almost $250,000 and the Tom Celani Student Investment Portfolio, which holds $1 million. Both are managed by students. 

“It’s one thing to create an imaginary portfolio, but when you’re actually making decisions on whether to move the money from this stock to this stock, and then the earnings of that portfolio fund student related activities, you have vested interest in taking the job seriously and doing it well,” Crespy said.

The maroon and gold stocks will be watched by students intently. What they earn in the Celani portfolio and the Segar fund will support their entrepreneurship program, New Venture competition, help fund study abroad opportunities and finance programs that allow students to go to the New York Stock Exchange and “basically follow Wall Street.”

The college also has Bloomberg terminals which include a keyboard that features green, blue and red keys that are instructions on analyzing the market. The terminals were funded mostly by private donations. A student can sign on and get information on a stock using the analytical tool. For example, a student can use that information to determine whether it’s better to buy an oil stock or if they’re better off buying a tech stock.

Troy senior Bryan Witters, who is enrolled in the financial state analysis class, is hoping to become Bloomberg certified using a computer courses allowing students to participate in discussions and presentations related to investment practices.

“I really like the ticker's symbols and the TV’s they have available,” he said. “It think it’s the nicest facility we have available, at least in the Grawn building.”

To get a job on Wall Street, which is the college’s goal for it’s students, they are required to have specific skill sets. According to Crespy, students have to be Bloomberg certified. 

Ideally, they will have sat for the the first stage of the Charter Financial Analyst certification exam. The college teaches students the skills needed to sit for those exams and become certified in their financial service center.

Helping advance these skill sets are alumni who work on Wall Street, assisting them with tools necessary to get the students to compete with students from Ivy League and Big Ten schools with larger endowments and connections to Wall Street. The Financial Trading Lab and stock quote ticker stand to help students earn a Certified Financial Planner or Charter Financial Analyst Certification.

“Students can get wrapped up in their weekly schedules and challenges and forget that there's a big busy world full of opportunities waiting for them,” said Director of Business Student Services, Karen Arthur. “The ticker brings the real world right to Grawn Hall.”

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