<p>I am currently a sophomore at a large public high school and I am thinking of starting a club that deals with issues pertaining to the stock market. I have always demonstrated a large interest in the fields of business and finance and I thought that starting this type of club would be a great addition to my school community.</p>
<p>I am hoping to have the club officially start in September, so I have plenty of time to finalize and refine my ideas. The basis for the club would be fairly simple: learn basic information about the stock market so that one could teach personal finance classes in the local middle and elementary schools. A club member would not take over the position of a teacher, but would teach a lesson or so just to relay information that they have learned. The club could also feature trip(s) to New York City to see some stock-market action being that we live less than 45 minutes away. We could also have some guest speakers (preferably stock brokers) to come in and share their experiences. </p>
<p>I don't think that the club is too far fetched and I think that I would be able to handle something of this nature. My only questions to you guys is a. Will something like this work? and b. Do you guys have any advice to someone starting a club like this for their first time?</p>
<p>Dude. It didn’t even have a chance to get to the second page. </p>
<p>That said, a general “finance club” might have a broader appeal.
Another idea: if your school doesn’t already have a personal finance requirement, you could try to establish one. At my school you have to take a short finance class to graduate and we learn about paying for college, buying a car, etc.</p>
<p>It sounds like a good idea and I am actually considering doing something similar. The only thing about it is that it sounds a lot like a class and if thats what you are going for, then great, but it might not have a whole lot of appeal. What I want to do next year is to start an investment club that possibly has some of the things you are talking about(e.g. guest speaker), but I would like to possibly do something more like a virtual stock market type thing and possibly more discussion-based rather than classes.</p>
<p>For starting a club in general, I have a few tips (I started a club at my school):
make sure you have a faculty advisor really dedicated to making the club succeed. You’ll only be in high school for 4 years, so you need to make sure the club will be able to continue to operate when you’re gone.
advertise!! If your school has a broadcasting channel, make a cool commercial! If not, put posters up around the campus, create a Facebook group and invite the whole school, make announcements at lunch, whatever you can do to get people to show up.
Make sure when they show up, that it’s something worth staying for. I’ve noticed that people usually stay at meetings that offer free food! So it could be a good idea to have refreshments at your first meeting to get attention and make the club known to those who may not have been interested originally.
organize! Make sure you have your goals for the club written down, and maybe hand this out at your informational meeting. Get a group of 4 or 5 students to work with you in starting the club (from different social groups would be best - so they can lure in different people). Make these your officers ( unless you think elections are necessary for the first year.) </p>
<p>That’s all I can come up with off the top of my head, but good luck!</p>