PHOTO PROVIDED Far Left: Robert Rolley, publisher of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Dan Wrench and Sara Kropp of Woodlands Bank stand with the current Lycoming County Stock Market student winners Thayden Miller, Taylor McRae, Cortney Smith, Brynn McRae, and Montgomery High School advisor and teacher, Ryan Monoski (far right).

MONTGOMERY – Five local teams that participated in the Stock Market Challenge, held by the Pennsylvania Council on Financial Literacy (PennCFL), were honored recently at a luncheon at The Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The reigning champs from Montgomery Area High School and their teacher, Ryan Monoski, will be honored for their achievement at the state capitol.

The stock market program was created by PennCFL to teach students how to invest in stocks, make trades, analyze markets and build stock market portfolios, while competing with other students.

The goal of the program, according to PennCFL is to help students in elementary, middle and high schools to “learn about the stock market to prepare them to succeed financially in their personal and professional lives.”

In his remarks on his team’s journey to winning top honors, Monoski noted that this particular team had survived because of cautious trading.

“We had a lot of teams that were doing very well at the beginning. Then all of a sudden a whole bunch of my teams dropped out because they got involved with a stock that went up from $5 to $95 a share and they ended short.

“This team played a different strategy,” he said referring to the winners. “They weren’t playing the riskiest stocks like a lot of the teams were.”

During the luncheon, Dr. Roy A. Fletcher, an associate professor in the Business and Hospitality Department at Penn College, spoke to the students about “Artificial Intelligence in Finance.”

After giving a history of artificial intelligence, Fletcher told the students that AI is already used in finance in investing and credit decisions and in cyber security. He noted that in the future, because of its speed, quantum computing will be integral in investing.

“Quantum computing holds the key,” he told the group of high school and middle school students.

Presenting awards were: Don Wrench, brand manager and Sara Kropp, marketing officer, both from Woodlands Bank and Robert O. Rolley Jr., publisher of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

The following teams were honored:

Montgomery Area High School – Brynn McRae, Taylor McRae, Cortney Smith, Thayden Miller, Nathan Wetherhold and Brody Heller and teacher Ryan Monoski.

Muncy High School – Nathan Wetherhold, Madysen Hall, Meteo Meza and Taylor Byrson with teacher Beth Baker.

C.E. McCall Middle School – Myken Barnes, Alexa Tira, Joshua Wentzler, Madison Cohick, Walker Wood, Quinn Winslow, Jack Dietrich, Jimmy Mussina, Jordyn Buffington and Lea Beishline with teacher Patty Confer.

Williamsport Area Middle School – Chris White, Josh Lake, Daniel Swaille, Sara Gargasz, Willian Hartman, Devan Whiteman, Elijah Copson and Ava Williams with teacher Matthew Palmatier

Williamsport Area High School – Tyler Fausnaught, Jaiden Kinley, Matthew Lavallee Harris, Dillan Read, Michael Cendoma, Oam Patel, Elliott Wannop, Liz Carter and Zoey Knipe with teacher Marianne Wimer.