A group of 45 U.S. and international high school students gathered at Bentley University this summer to get an inside look at the financial industry and a taste of college life. Wall Street 101 is a week-long residential business camp held on the Bentley campus in Waltham, Mass. First offered in 2000, the educational summer camp gained immediate popularity among future financiers and has been featured in USA Today and on CNBC.

The interactive program allows students to explore the stock market, learn about investing and portfolio management, and develop leadership and teamwork skills as they conduct simulated trading sessions in Bentley’s state-of-the-art Trading Room. The facility is equipped with real-time market data that is provided by Bloomberg, FactSet, Morningstar, S&P NetAdvantage, and ThomsonOne.

According to Richard Gibble, director of the Hughey Center for Financial Services at Bentley, “The campers are exposed to college level financial concepts taught in a dynamic fashion using Bentley’s Trading Room. They get a very real college experience, complete with a group presentation at the end of the week.  We cover a lot of ground in one week and the campers come away with a greater appreciation for what the capital markets are, how they work and why they are important.”

Through these resources student teams learned the fundamentals of valuing securities and constructing a winning portfolio. The week concluded with a formal presentation to parents and members of the Bentley community that will include the rationale for each student's portfolio selection and a detailed financial analysis of the two chosen companies.

All of the Wall Street 101 material is drawn from university-level courses. The program also featured guest lecturers and field-based learning opportunities including trips to Deloitte and Fidelity where students interacted with analysts, traders and portfolio managers.

In addition to gaining a broad overview of the university-level classroom environment, students sample college life by living on campus for the duration of the week and attending a workshop on the application process. Other activities include the use of Bentley's athletic center and cafeteria, movie nights, and field trips into Boston.