By Amy Higgins
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Less than one week into the spring round of the Stock Market Game, six Springboro High School teams have taken the lead.

The investment simulation kicked off on Monday with more than 500 student teams competing against one another to see how they can make the most of their mock $100,000 investment portfolio.

RANKINGS

• Adult rankings • High school composite rankings • High school individual team rankings • Middle school rankings • Middle school team rankings

Players started picking real publicly traded companies to "invest" in. Returns are calculated based on the real stock price movements. The team with the biggest portfolio at the end of 10 weeks wins a real $150 cash prize.

The Fraggles at Springboro - students in Rick Creager's Introduction to Business class - have already added $6,529 to their portfolio mostly through strong gains this week in two technology companies.

In the middle school division, St. Aloysius Gonzaga is leading locally on Nancy Heitzman's students' conservative picks.

A decades-old market simulation, the game teaches its players about the real consequences of investing in stocks without the risk of losing real money.

The University of Cincinnati's Economics Center of Education & Research coordinates the local game. Information is available from the center's Web site.

Register at Web site by selecting the Cincinnati version within Ohio.

E-mail ahiggins@enquirer.com