By Amy Higgins
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Not that a sixth-grade class at Washington Park Elementary School could have been confused with a stock exchange trading floor, but at times Tuesday morning, the excitement and heartbreak looked like Wall Street.

Frustration over three years of falling stock prices; cheers for market gains; gratitude for dividends. And a shrewd trade that helped two girls turn $100 into $195.

"I wish it was real," said Takeyia Miller, 13.

But the financial lesson learned was real - and that was the whole point of Accounting for Kids Day. About 200 professionals spent the morning in classrooms of 11 Cincinnati Public Schools to help teach accounting and business concepts.

"If you can empower children at an early age to learn fundamental financial skills, these skills can last a lifetime," said Crystal Faulkner, partner in Cooney, Faulkner & Stevens and chairwoman of Accounting for Kids. "The hope is that once these professionals have been exposed to the children, they will want to continue to volunteer as mentors or tutors."

At Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine, a fourth and sixth grade class played a portfolio management game that simulated Wall Street. Teams started with $100 to put into two of the five stocks available. The mock companies mimicked the risk spectrum, from the relative safety of a utility company to the volatility of a computer technology firm.

Then after rolling eight-sided dice, they watch whether their holdings went up, down or stayed the same.

Takeyia and her partner Shaeniquah Watkins, 12, started owning one share each of the risky biotech stock and a supposedly stable automaker. But the automaker stock fell sharply, and the biotech firm didn't pay dividends.

So they decided to trade their risky biotech for two shares of a banking company, which had fallen in price but was at least paying a dividend.

"It was first real low - then it went high," Takeyia said.

Across the room, LaShawnta Williams, 13, didn't fare quite as well. The automaker and utility company paid good dividends, but didn't recover from the bear market in the games' early rounds.

Still, she said felt better with her safer investments.

Shaeniquah also said she learned enough the stock market to maybe invest in real stocks when she grows up.

Her goal for the money: "To buy a house."

E-mail ahiggins@enquirer.com