Sat | Dec 13, 2025

JC win Stock Exchange competition for high schools for 7th straight year

Published:Monday | June 16, 2025 | 12:07 AM
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Marlene Street Forrest (third left), managing director of Jamaica Stock Exchange; Wayne Robinson (left), principal of Jamaica College (JC); Richard Byles (third right), governor of the Bank of Jamaica; Lance Hylton (second right), chairman of JC; and Andre
Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Marlene Street Forrest (third left), managing director of Jamaica Stock Exchange; Wayne Robinson (left), principal of Jamaica College (JC); Richard Byles (third right), governor of the Bank of Jamaica; Lance Hylton (second right), chairman of JC; and Andre Gooden (right), JSE group business development manager, pose with the JC team during a courtesy call at the JSE’s downtown Kingston offices celebrating the team winning the JSE’s annual Stock Market Game for High Schools for 2024-2025.
Marlene Street Forrest (second right), managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange; greets Justin Phinn (second left), Jamaica College (JC) Stock Market Club team captain, while looking on from (third left) are Wayne Robinson, principal of JC; Richard
Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Marlene Street Forrest (second right), managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange; greets Justin Phinn (second left), Jamaica College (JC) Stock Market Club team captain, while looking on from (third left) are Wayne Robinson, principal of JC; Richard Byles, governor of the Bank of Jamaica; and Lance Hylton, chairman of JC at the JSE.
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Jamaica College (JC) is celebrating its seventh consecutive year topping the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) virtual High School Stock Market Game.

The team, coached by Mr Oliver Irons and comprising Justin Phinn, Jocade Hudson, Kyle Brown, Dhruv Belani, Kevin Hall, Dominick Salmon, Jordan McPherson and Jahdiel Barrett, also took home first to seventh and 12th place in the individual standings.

Starting with a virtual fund of $800,000 in December 2024, the JC team traded and invested its way to a stock portfolio value of $4,532,391.41 by the end of the game in April 2025. Wolmer’s Boys’ was second with $2,535,783.66.

In the Teacher’s Game, business teacher Oliver Irons placed first for the seventh consecutive year in a row with fellow teacher Jehu Graham placing second.

The trophy for this year’s event was presented to Irons, the JC team coach, and Phinn, the captain, by Dr Marlene Street Forrest, the JSE’s managing director, who congratulated the team on its success and stressed the importance of financial literacy in today’s world.

JC Chairman Lance Hylton, Principal Wayne Robinson and Bank of Jamaica Governor Richard Byles, a JC old boy, were on hand to witness the occasion and support the team.

Hylton expressed his delight at the team’s accomplishment and noted that it was a byproduct of JC’s thrust to ensure that the boys produced by 189 Old Hope Road are well-rounded and ready to conquer the challenges and opportunities of the fast-paced digital, and financial world. The achievements are consistent with JC’s ongoing improvement in academic results and in reaching the Schools’ Challenge Quiz finals for the first time in 38 years.

The JSE’s Stock Market Game for High Schools is aimed at high school students in fourth to sixth forms and is designed to strengthen students’ critical-thinking skills, financial literacy, and confidence-building and self-esteem. Most importantly, the stock market game instils an understanding of the need to save and invest at an early age and ensure that when students leave high school, they have the basic knowledge of how and when to buy and sell stock.

JC made its first appearance in the competition during the 2016-2017 season, but didn’t place in the final standings. After a one-year hiatus, the school returned during the 2018-2019 season where it won the game and topped first to fourth. Since then, several students who have gone through this virtual game have gone on to begin investing on their own with Daniel White, a two-time first-place finisher, winning the JSE’s Public and Young Investor game. Under Iron’s stewardship, JC will be seeking to expand the interest of young men in financial literacy and putting their best foot forward in the ever-changing world.