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CNN Saturday Morning News
Business Campers Learn the Ropes of Wall Street
Aired July 07, 2001 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, on Wall Street the traders try to escape the city for a little time at the beach during summer. But for some young campers it's just the opposite. They're trying to learn the ways of Wall Street rather than go on vacation.
Our two guests can elaborate on this for us. Patrick Gregory is the director of Wall Street 100 at Bentley College in Boston, Massachusetts. It's a camp. And James Herbin is a participant in the camp last summer. He's in New York. Hi guys.
JAMES HERBIN, FORMER BUSINESS CAMPER: Hi.
PATRICK GREGORY, WALL STREET 101: Hello.
PHILLIPS: Well, Patrick, let's begin with you. Why and how did you come up with this idea?
GREGORY: Well, the camp is essentially a natural extension of the growing number of investment clubs at high schools across the country. Many of the students who enroll in the program are investment club members. Some are active participants in online trading games sponsored by CNBC or the Virtual Stock Exchange. They all seem to share a basic interest in learning more about finance, and particularly the capital markets.
PHILLIPS: So lay out this camp for us. What exactly do the students do? Do they role play? Do they actually go on buy and sell?
GREGORY: Well, the program is conducted from our online trading room. So the students attend classroom lectures. They participate in live simulated trading sessions. And they interact with industry professionals throughout the week. The students also have the opportunity to engage in some field based learning opportunities by traveling to the Boston Stock Exchange or the Federal Reserve Bank, which help to reinforce some of the core concepts covered throughout the week.
PHILLIPS: So James, what drew you to the camp?
HERBIN: Well, at first, it wasn't really my idea, but my mother, it was her idea. So I just went because basically of my mom.
PHILLIPS: She wanted you to do all the investing, huh?
HERBIN: Yeah, I guess so.
PHILLIPS: She wants you in charge. Was it difficult?
HERBIN: No. Actually, it was, at first it was a little complicated but as like the day, the week progressed and I actually learned like more of the terms, it was, it got easier as it went along.
PHILLIPS: Yeah, tell me about some of the things that you learned and if you've been able to even apply them right now in any way.
HERBIN: Well, we've learned about how to like just choose a stock and see how it was good and analyze the stock. And we have, there was a -- excuse me. Sorry.
PHILLIPS: That's OK. Think about it. What was there? I know it's all very confusing. I still don't understand the stock market, James. It's OK.
HERBIN: Yeah, well through the week we had a group presentation to make at the end of the week. So we had to just basically choose a stock and we'd choose a stock and we learned about how the capital markets and the banking system and how the Fed affects the economy and how, just basically how it works.
PHILLIPS: All right, you've got it down. I'm impressed.
HERBIN: Right.
PHILLIPS: Have you invested any money?
HERBIN: No, not actually. Not much at all.
PHILLIPS: You aren't going to put any money away for college?
HERBIN: Well, I have a little like money but I'm not sure where I'm going to put it yet. I haven't really looked that deeply.
PHILLIPS: Have you been able to go home and tell your mom, OK, mom, this is what we need to look at, this is what we should do?
HERBIN: Yeah, but I'm not sure, I'm not really sure yet.
PHILLIPS: OK, you're still checking it out.
HERBIN: Yeah.
PHILLIPS: So, Patrick, when you and I, OK, were the same age as James, I mean the interest and the access, it was a very different time.
GREGORY: Absolutely. At one time students weren't exposed to the stock market until their junior or senior year of high school when they took an economics class. Today with the explosion in technology, students have access to financial and market data that at one time was only accessible through a stock broker. I think that same technology is also being used to introduce students to the stock market at a very early age.
In New England, for example, elementary school teachers actually use the stock market as a way of teaching decimals in their math classes. In fact, fifth and sixth grade classes visit Bentley each year to trade in our simulated environment.
PHILLIPS: Now, Patrick, are you concerned at all about how young some of these kids are who are getting online and even dabbling with the market? There's been a lot of criticism about the online trading, etc., and that people just aren't as educated as they should be and it's affecting things.
GREGORY: Oh, certainly. In fact, one of the sessions that we conduct throughout the week is a dangers of day trading lecture where we demonstrate to the students through an actual real time trading session that 85 to 90 percent of the day traders actually lose money. So we want to make sure that we're taking the high road and that we're building in a long-term perspective and giving them the core concepts that they need to invest for the future.
PHILLIPS: And if you want to find out more about this camp, there is a Web site. We're going to bring that up. And James, before we go, I understand you nailed a pretty good internship after going to this camp, right?
HERBIN: Oh, yeah. This summer I'll be working at State Street Banks. So that should be something to look forward to.
PHILLIPS: Well, congratulations. Thank you.
HERBIN: All right, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Patrick Gregory and James Herbin, thanks so much for being with us, both of you.
HERBIN: Thanks.
GREGORY: Thank you.
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