Wayland Business Association
Encourages Outstanding Efforts
by Wayland High School Business Education Program

May 21, 2008 – The Wayland Business Association recognized the accomplishments of the Wayland High School Business Education Department at its May 20, 2008 meeting, hearing a presentation from Teacher Jim Page, meeting award-winning students in the program and presenting a check in support of the program. The Business Education department increased enrollment 140% since 2003. Similarly the curriculum has grown in every course category. Courses now include Stock Market and Investing, Entrepreneurship & Business Management, Creative Economy, and Business Law.

Wayland consistently ranks in the top 10 among Massachusetts high schools in the annual Boston Globe Stock Market Game. This year, Wayland ranked #1 among more than 800 teams. Students hypothetically invest $100,000 over a 10-week period. The winning team of Sam Shaw and Jackie Wogan realized almost 30% return on their investments with shares of Apple and MasterCard leading the way.

WHS also ranked #1 in the state both years it has competed in the InvestWrite competition, ranking #6 in the nation in 2006-2007. The 2007-2008 Massachusetts state winner was Stef Scari. InvestWrite requires students to author an essay explaining their investment strategy for different time frames – a three-year and 30-year approach. Stef’s focus on technical and fundamental data coupled with thorough research on alternative energies and biotech companies earned her top honors.

Additional accomplishments of the WHS Business Department include:

• Students in Entrepreneurship and Business Management start and run their own companies each spring. Proceeds donated to charities total $22,000 to-date.
• With the Creative Economy course, most recently, four students have initiated year-long independent studies to complete Advanced Placement (AP) level course work for both Macro- and Microeconomics.
• The Business Law course received a $5,000 grant to bring WestLaw – an online legal database into the classroom for student research. The grant is courtesy of the Wayland Public Schools Foundation.

PHOTO:

From left, Business Education Teacher Jim Page, Wayland School Superintendant Gary Burton, business students Stephanie Scari, Sam Shaw and Jackie Wogan, Wayland Business Association co-presidents Susan Collins and David D’Orlando and WBA Past President Ralph Wegener.