By David Karas | Correspondent

At some point between their religion classes and lunch break, seventh- and eighth-grade students in St. Dominic School, Brick, become day traders.

For the past decade, seventh and eighth-grade social studies and religion teacher Mara Tiernan has brought the New Jersey Stock Market Game, a free program that allows students to engage in a virtual and educational stock experience, to her classroom.

“I enjoy knowing that the students have some basis of an economic background as they enter high school,” says Tiernan. “Students are challenged, engaged, and using math and economics skills that will be useful in their futures.”

Tiernan’s classes have participated in the fall, spring and year-long sessions of the competition, which includes students in other schools as well. Beginning in the seventh grade, she teaches her students an introduction to the game, with basic information about supply and demand, buying and selling shares, corporations, stocks, bonds, credit and other related topics.

Once registered, the students can begin buying and selling through the game’s website, which includes lesson plans, statistical information and research, as well as current stock price listings. Tiernan’s students break up into groups and work together to try to achieve the most successful portfolio of holdings, she explained.

“The best part is listening (to) and discussing the strategies the students have,” she said. “We have some very intelligent future stock brokers!”

Also the school’s career day coordinator, Tiernan has drawn another connection to the lessons from the Stock Market Game, arranging a visit by Mark Frey, the managing director of the New York Stock Exchange, to speak to the students about how the Stock Exchange works.

And Tiernan’s students are pretty good at the trade – with first- and second-place finishes in the past few years participating in the Middle School division of the statewide competition.

Most recently, a team of eighth grade students took first place in the Middle School Southern Division of the year-long game. The students - Christian Brando, Ethan Coakley, Bryan Romanow, Joseph SanFilippo, and River VanDerveer – invested $100,000 in a diverse portfolio of stock holdings, competing with over 130 other teams and yielding a 38-percent growth return on their investments.

In addition, another team won second place in the same division for the spring session, with Mark Dobin, Javier Jimenez, Jake Meehan, and Oliver Nora competing against 250 other teams for the title.

“I truly believe that the competition aspect of it adds to the children's excitement and engagement,” said Tiernan.

Two years ago, one of the teams that took second place in the division had the chance to meet Frey on the Stock Market floor and watch the bell ring.

This year, the latest group of winners will be recognized June 4 during an awards ceremony in The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Galloway.

“They are very excited to know that their hard work, dedication, research, and strategies have paid off,” said Tiernan, “and, we could not be prouder of them.”