Congresswoman Kim Schrier to Visit WestSide High School DECA Program

The WestSide High School DECA team will receive a visit from Congresswoman Kim Schrier on April 25th as part of the SIFMA Foundation’s 16th Annual Capitol Hill Challenge™ (CHC) national program.

Earlier this year, WestSide’s DECA team participated in SIFMA’s Stock Market Game™ (SMG) and was invited to compete in their Capitol Hill Challenge. The SIFMA Foundation is an independent nonprofit educational organization dedicated to fostering knowledge of the financial markets, serving over 17 million students across the country. 

The 14-week challenge organizes teams of middle and high school students by congressional district and state and teaches the importance of saving and investing, while simultaneously promoting a better understanding of our government. Teams invest a hypothetical $100,000 in listed stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and learn the value of the capital markets as they work together to maximize the return of their portfolios.

As part of the challenge program, SIFMA coordinates visits with Members of Congress to participating schools, and the top 10 CHC teams win a trip to Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Schrier, who represents Washington’s 8th Congressional District, will visit WestSide High School,1510 9th St, Wenatchee, WA, on Thursday, April 25th from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. The visit will include a DECA team recognition presentation, all student assembly and school tour. 

“The best part of the experience has been how enthusiastic the students have been,” said Brandt.  “They enjoy checking their portfolios and tracking their investments.” As an educator, Brandt appreciated the ease of implementing the CHC curriculum as part of financial literacy at WestSide. “Investing can be risky and scary. This program teaches why it’s important to start investing at a young age and different ways to do it ultimately helping them become more comfortable with varying investment strategies.”     

The competition uses the SIFMA Foundation’s curriculum-based Stock Market Game™ to help students develop a better understanding of the global economy, become college and career ready, and improve their knowledge of math, economics, and business. The program is proven to raise student scores on tests of mathematics, economics and financial knowledge. It is also proven to positively impact students’ and teachers’ personal financial behavior.