A team made up of seven students from around Lake Washington School District (LWSD) is making some noise in the world of investment competition. The team, Avant-Garde Investments, has five students from Nikola Tesla STEM High School and one student each from Eastlake and Redmond high schools. The team was a finalist in their region of the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition. The team recently found out that they placed second in the regional finals, which moves them along to the global competition with just nine other teams.

This investment competition is an annual contest for high school students that is judged based on the strength and creativity of team investment strategies. Unlike most stock games, teams do not succeed based on the growth of their stock portfolios. 

Avant-Garde Investments was among 10 finalists in Region 3-B of the competition. Region 3-B encompasses Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The competitions are taking place virtually. 
According to a press release, the contest has had more than 5,000 students from 35 countries participate. Avant-Garde has consistently met virtually since September to plan their investment strategies. Two of the members from Tesla STEM were so inspired by the competition that they formed an Economics Club at the school. The club allows opportunities for other high school students to learn about economics and compete in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition.  

A total of 50 top teams from around the world were selected from 972 final competition reports, which were submitted for judging on December 11, 2020. The regional finals results were posted on the Wharton Global Youth Program website in March. The grand prize winner of the global stage will be announced on May 7, 2021.  

Here are the team members from LWSD that make up Avant-Garde Investments:

Tesla STEM High School:
William Gong, sophomore
Rithika Madey, freshman
Aayush Sheth, junior
Maxwell Soh, junior
Ananya Soni, junior

Eastlake High School: 
Arjun Mahesh, junior

Redmond High School:
Dhruv Srinivasan, junior