May 13, 2026
News Release
May 13, 2026
For more information, contact:
Kara Hyman
Program Manager
716-853-1381, ext. 213
khyman@jawny.org
Junior Achievement Announces Winners of Annual Stock Market Challenge
(Buffalo, NY) – During the school year, over 1,200 WNY students have participated in two separate virtual competitions of trading through their experience in the Junior Achievement Virtual Stock Market Challenge. Students represented seventeen schools from across WNY. Leaderboards were dynamic and shared weekly using the hashtag #JAWNYStockMarketChallenge.
Winners of the virtual competitions were:
Fall 2025: Jacob Johnson, Jamestown High School
Spring 2026: Arden Jalal, Clarence High School
Jacob Johnson said, “I am honored to have won this year’s JA Stock Market Challenge, and my thanks goes out to Mrs. Schultze, my personal finance and business teacher, and Junior Achievement, for hosting the event. This year’s challenge had some very tough competition, with second and third place not far behind me, but my key to winning was making large, and smart investments in stocks that showed promise. Winning wasn’t the only take away from this experience though — recognizing the power of investment was another, and I hope to apply this realization to my life, in the future.”
The culminating in-person event, the JA Stock Market Challenge Championship, allowed participating schools to be represented by their top performing students from earlier rounds. The championship round event engaged 22 student teams competing for top honors and the prestigious “Bull Trophy” among other prizes. During this fast-paced competition, students engaged in 60 days of trading, represented by 1 minute per day, and starting with a $500,000 portfolio.
Prior to the JA Stock Market Challenge, JA provides their JA Take Stock in Your Future curriculum to introduce students to basic concepts about how the market works and the impact of current events. The curriculum also includes a series of self-guided extension activities for students to engage in deeper learning about the stock market and investing.
Wells Fargo is the JA Financial Literacy Pathway Sponsor and a primary contributor to this unique and interactive JA learning experience.
At the close of the championship competition, Junior Achievement of Western New York (JAWNY) is pleased to recognize Clarence High School for taking all three top spots:
1st place: Clarence High School—Four Brothers (Ian Galas, Brent Sheedy, Keegan Floss, Owen Zang)
2nd place: Clarence High School—Aaron’s Team (Jeremy Dorigo, Cole Myers, Aaron Ostrov, Ben Selig)
3rd place: Clarence High School—Wallstreet (Megan Ippolito, Patrick Mohr, Aubrey Nagel)
Participating Schools:
Erie County: Alden High School, Amherst High School, Clarence High School, Cheektowaga High School, Depew High School, Hamburg High School, Health Sciences Charter School, Kenmore East High School, Sweet Home High School
Genesee County: LeRoy Jr/Sr High School
Niagara County: Lockport High School, Niagara Falls High School
Cattaraugus County: Allegany-Limestone High School
Chautauqua County: Cassadaga Valley High School, Falconer High School, Jamestown High School, Dunkirk High School
This program is not possible without support from our partners: Wells Fargo, JA Financial Literacy Pathway Sponsor; additional support from: Delta Air Lines; JP Morgan Chase, HSBC Bank USA N.A.; The Lenna Foundation; Bryant & Stratton College; Tops Friendly Markets; Zgoda & Associates CPAs, PC; Perry’s Ice Cream; PwC; Reid Foundation; Seneca Foods Foundation; Broadview Federal Credit Union; Deloitte; KPMG; Lawley; National Fuel; Northwest Bank; Phillips Lytle LLP; WSF Industries, Inc; Financial Trust Federal Credit Union and Withum.
Proceeds from the JA Stock Market Challenge support Junior Achievement’s financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career & work-readiness pathway programs for kindergarten-12 grade students. For more information about Junior Achievement programs, visit www.jawny.org.
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