Pat Nieters

Nieters’ “Students’ Investment Project,” is designed to teach students money management skills during their middle and high school years. Each student will begin their sixth-grade with an initial investment of five dollars of their own money. Blended with community donations and grant funds, the sixth-grade classes’ portfolio will total approximately $10,000 in start-up funds. Students will be taught various economic concepts before the class makes its initial investment. The process will utilize a standardized and sequential curriculum that also aligns with the national standards in economics instruction. Halfway through the year, students will be presented a list of mutual funds in which to invest. But before voting on how to invest their funds, students will assess the value of each investment opportunity against pre-set criteria. Throughout the investment process local professionals from the investment, accounting and banking communities have committed to become mentors to the students, giving them a chance to interact and ask questions of those working in the financial industry. The mentors will make presentations, instruct students in various financial principles and ultimately oversee management of the investment portfolios until the 12^th-grade. Through this program, Nieters, who lives in Cody, hopes to provide students with an authentic learning experience that increases the motivation to save and invest and, at the same time, provide context when learning complex, abstract investment concepts.