We all know that there’s nothing better than a fantastic education! Yet, what do you do when your days of classrooms are coming to an end and you’re now in need of real on-the-job experience?
What started in 2015 with a 250 K investment from the UC foundation has grown into what is now known as the SMILE Fund of today. The SMILE Fund allows graduating students the chance to dabble in the stock market.
The money is real, the players are real and the losses are real. There’s nothing fake about what the SMILE Fund is doing. It’s giving students real life exposure to the stock market—a chance to invest, a chance to make mistakes, and at the end of the day the chance to grow as a real world investor.
While all investments are approved by professors and those involved with the fund, the investment strategy is ultimately owned by the students themselves, and it’s rare for a student’s decision to be vetoed by a member of the staff.
Students believe that the SMILE fund has provided them with learning opportunities that the traditional classroom model simply couldn’t afford them. They’re responsible for real world decisions, real world money and have to abide by real-world deadlines, all which give the students a taste of what’s yet to come in their presently undeveloped careers.
To date, while the fund has fallen below what they started with at times, the fund itself is acting profitably. The school estimates that the fund is almost 2 percent higher than when it started, proving the SMILE project is working– not just for the students, but for the College as well.
While traditionally reserved for students in the highest years, high school students have begun to call the College inquiring as to whether or not they could take part as freshmen. As such, the school is now allowing some freshmen to become involved in the project at an early age.
Not everyone in any related program gets the opportunity to have their chance at the SMILE Fund. Students must be hired for the position and adhere to a strict code of conduct—just like a real job. Much like a real job, students involved in the SMILE project can also be fired—a practice that one professor says is actually quite common.
Many of the SMILE Fund participants have garnered jobs at notable finance companies, such as Merrill Lynch, and believe that the SMILE Fund was critical in them landing their dream jobs. From being more confident in the interview, to feeling competent when it came time to investing, students’ believe that the chance to participate in the SMILE fund was priceless.
To learn more about the SMILE Fund or for admission information into UTC, interested parties are asked to visit the college’s site directly.
