By JJ Peters - The News - Kalona, Ia
Riverside
There may be some future business leaders coming out of Highland High School.
Last fall, four Highland FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) teams competed in the Heartland Stock Market Challenge held at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.
During the competition, two Highland teams placed first and second. One of those teams, Paper Trails, earned an invitation to compete at the JA National Stock Market Challenge this June.
Members of the team include Will Boileau-Futrell, Alan Nass, Austin Rodriguez and Brayden Zywiec. Nass was unable to attend the interview.
JA National Stock Market Challenge
Paper Trails is one of just 35 teams invited to compete in this year’s JA National Stock Market Challenge, which will be held June 7-11 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Hosted annually by Junior Achievement USA, the competition simulates real-world investing, with top high school teams from across the country competing to build the highest-value mock portfolio.
The event rotates locations each year after being held in Atlanta in 2025. Paper Trails also qualified for last year’s national competition in Atlanta.
After qualifying for nationals, The News sat down with members of the Paper Trails team to learn more about the competition and their experience.
Paper Trails team
While introducing themselves, the students explained what drew them to the competition.
Austin Rodriguez said he joined after hearing about the event at the last minute and quickly became interested because of his passion for business.
Brayden Zywiec admitted he was unsure about the competition at first, but eventually enjoyed learning how the stock market works and working alongside a team.
Will Boileau-Futrell said the event helped teach real-world skills such as quick decision-making and problem solving while also helping him learn more about stocks and investing.
Challenge rewards
The students explained there are several different rewards teams can compete for during the challenge.
Some awards are based on having the most diverse portfolio, holding stocks the longest or performing well in the Green Stock Challenge, which focuses on efficient companies. While many prizes include technology items, the top three teams receive scholarships.
Competition
The competition begins with teams managing a virtual $1 million stock portfolio over a 30-day period. Teams choose which stocks to invest in, with some groups focusing on only a few companies as part of their strategy.
Throughout the challenge, participants receive news updates involving companies, such as expansions or factory closures, and must make investment decisions based on that information. When updates are unavailable, teams rely on market trends and patterns to predict stock movement.
Future Plans
When discussing future career plans, several students said the experience helped shape their interests.
Boileau-Futrell said he is interested in investment banking and believes the competition can help prepare him for that field.
Nass plans to pursue a future in finance and hopes to become a financial manager.
Zywiec said he enjoys the competition but plans to study engineering in college, while Rodriguez said he explored business and finance through the event before deciding to pursue medicine instead.
Wall Street
One of the students’ favorite memories from last year’s event was meeting someone who worked on Wall Street in the Twin Towers and had experience working with major companies and large financial investments.
Investing
When discussing investing apps, the students said some platforms can help guide users on where to invest their money.
They also stressed the importance of researching companies, following business news and learning from experienced investors before making decisions.
Preparing and strategy
The students said preparing for the competition takes several hours of research and planning.
They reviewed around 30 different stocks before the competition and created organized materials such as note sheets and categorized stock lists to make information easier to find during the event.
Each member also had a specific role during the competition. Nass served as the final decision maker, while Zywiec and Rodriguez focused on researching stocks, recommending investments and collecting news alerts. Boileau-Futrell and Nass handled communicating trades to officials.
Wolf of Wall Street
The students were also asked about The Wolf of Wall Street and how realistic it is compared to real-life investing.
They explained the movie focuses more on brokerage sales and commissions than actual stock trading and said the level of wealth shown in the film is unrealistic for most investors.
Investment suggestions
The students pointed to technology and AI-related companies as some of the strongest investment options right now, specifically mentioning NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
They also discussed companies like Microsoft and Casey's, saying growth and innovation are major factors when deciding where to invest.