Interest Soars in Huntington Investment Club

Interest in Huntington High School’s investment club is soaring. The organization has nearly doubled in size from last year, growing from 12 to 20 members to date.

Huntington business teacher Bryan Outsen serves as the club’s faculty advisor. Student leaders include Rosie Arner (president), James Masler (vice president), Isabella Palacios (co-treasurer), Claire Parks (co-treasurer) and Vincenza Garofalo (public relations coordinator).

While the club ran only a spring session program last year, it will have full year operations in 2024/25. That suits club members just fine.

“After finishing first overall in the Spring Stock Market Challenge on Long Island, we qualified for a spot in the yearlong competition, spanning from September 16 to June 16, 2025, which now allows us to buy and sell mutual funds and bonds along with our individual stocks,” Mr. Outsen said.

The club has also applied to participate in the Capitol Hill Challenge sponsored by Charles Schwab. It’s a national stock market competition that runs from January 27-May 25 that provides students with opportunities to meet their congressional representatives and take a trip to D.C. if we finish in the top ten.”

In addition to the yearlong competition, there are field trips planned to Cetera Investors in the winter and American Financial Planners in the spring, “so students can get a first-hand view of what a financial advising office looks like and how advisors operate on a day-to-day basis,” Mr. Outsen said.

There will be guest speakers, too. Students have asked to learn more about a series of topics, including crypto currency, online banking investment options and real estate investing.

Returning club members are enthusiastic and the new members are just as energetic. “Personally, I loved being a part of the competition,” Ms. Palacios said. “It was fun to track my progress without having to worry about losing real money. Competing individually pushed me to refine my financial strategies and trust my decisions.”

There are plans to meet once a month through December and share portfolio highlights of the club’s top performers, who will give investment tips to their classmates based on their current portfolios. Starting in January the club will meet every two weeks to focus on the national competition.

“This club was so much more than just a game last year,” Ms. Arner said. “All of the research we did and stock purchases we made were completely accurate to the market and allowed me to make actual decisions on investments in the real world. I want to see how well we do on a full year instead of just a season.”