Wray writes her way to sixth place in national essay contest
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But Crystal Wray has gone one step further after winning sixth place among 7,000 students nationwide for an essay she wrote in relation to the concepts taught by the game.
The game itself, which is a separate competition from the essay contest, asks students to compete with each other using an imaginary $100,000 with the objective of earning as much money as possible in 10 weeks. The game is designed to teach students the basics of the stock market and investment skills, and participating students in Warren County have placed at the top regionally.
Participation in the game qualifies students to write essays and enter them in the national competition. Locally, Williams assigned his economics students the task of choosing a company they thought would be a good long term investment and explain why.
Wray, a Warren County High School annex student who finished school early, chose to write about the tobacco industry.
Even as taboo as smoking is considered in America in today’s society, the company’s cigarette brands are highly-desired overseas.
“Teachers selected the best three essays and submitted them to the national essay contest,” Williams said, noting the 1st place winner received a laptop computer and $1,000.
He noted Wray’s achievement.
“Percentage-wise, that’s better than one-tenth of 1 percent. We kind of want to know what the winner did that was better than hers,” he said. “This is awesome.”
Wray received $100 for her accomplishment.