Students at Millsaps College recently concluded the inaugural Else School of Management Stock Market Challenge, a semester-long virtual investing competition designed to give students hands-on experience navigating the stock market and managing investment portfolios. The competition allowed students to apply concepts learned in the classroom to real-world market scenarios while building analytical, research, and decision-making skills that are increasingly valuable in careers related to finance, business, and investing.
Hosted through MarketWatch, the competition ran from February 1 through April 30 and was open to all Millsaps students. Participants managed simulated investment portfolios using $100,000 in virtual cash while competing for prizes, scholarships, and campus bragging rights.
“This is the first year we’ve done it,” said Harvey Fiser of the Else School of Management. “It’s basically stock market Monopoly.”
Harvey Fiser is the dean and professor of business law with the Else School of Management
The challenge was launched with encouragement from the Millsaps Finance Club and support from Else School of Management finance faculty. Organizers created the competition to help students apply classroom concepts to real-world investing while developing research and analytical skills.
“We use it as a research tool and to teach students how to navigate the stock market,” Fiser said. “They research stocks, then they buy them.”
Throughout the semester, students had the flexibility to trade as frequently or as little as they wanted while monitoring the performance of their portfolios in real time. The MarketWatch platform used for the competition is also incorporated into several courses within the Else School of Management, including a fintech class focused on investments related to financial technology companies.
More than 60 participants joined the inaugural competition, including both students and faculty members.
“Even the faculty plays,” Fiser said. “I am in the game as well.”
Among the top performers was graduating senior and football player Blake Wiley, who grew his portfolio from the original $100,000 to approximately $166,873 by the end of the competition. MBA student Charles Barlow also emerged as one of the competition’s leading participants after increasing his portfolio by roughly $50,000.
Blake Wiley
Fiser reflected on his own experience participating in the challenge.
“I’m only up 12%, so I made $12,000 this semester,” he said. “I’m fairly proud considering I lost like $80,000 in the first two weeks, but all of my stocks came back.”
In addition to campus bragging rights, top participants can earn scholarship support toward graduate study at Millsaps. The first-place winner will receive a partial scholarship for the Millsaps MBA program.
The success of the inaugural challenge highlighted the value of experiential learning opportunities that prepare students for careers in finance and business by giving them direct exposure to investment research, market strategy, and portfolio management. By combining classroom instruction with real-time decision-making, the competition helped students develop practical skills and confidence that can translate directly into the professional world.