Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Piller, Zarnke, Bornick, Stockford, Hill, Cavalli, Mortimer, Goldschmidt
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 4/28/2021
Loyal-Piller Wins InvestWrite Essay Contest (12 April 2021)
Pillar Wins InvestWrite Essay Contest
Loyal High School senior Olivia Piller received first place in the Wisconsin Stock Market Game InvestWrite Challenge. The award was for an essay Piller wrote during her senior investing class. She took the class as part of Loyal’s financial literacy program, which has been made possible through an endowment fund established by Loyal native Dr. Eldon Hill. The fund is managed by the Eau Claire Community Foundation (EDDF). Shown are Loyal financial literacy teacher Jessica Zarnke, Piller, ECCF executive director Sue Bornick and Meredith Hill Stockford, Eldon Hill’s daughter. Valorie Brecht/Clark County Press
Loyal High School senior Olivia Piller’s understanding of investment principles has yielded a “positive return” in her life.”
Piller was recently named the Wisconsin winner of the InvestWrite Challenge essay contest, for the high school division. She received a medal, certificate and $100 gift card during a surprise ceremony in the school gym April 12.
“I was really surprised,” said Piller. “I knew there was an awards thing happening today. Then when I walked in and saw my family sitting there, I thought, ‘Oh, it’s probably something for [my sister] Alana.’ But then I saw the logo [for InvestWrite] on the screen and thought, ‘Hey I was in that.’”
Put on by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Foundation, the InvestWrite national essay competition bridges classroom learning in math, social studies and language arts with the practical research knowledge required for saving, investing and long-term planning. It also serves as a culminating activity for The Stock Market Game, an educational tool in which students invest and manage a hypothetical $100,000 online portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash.
Pillar participated in The Stock Market Game during a quarter-long investing class she and six other seniors took in the fall. At the end of the class, she had to answer questions about how she adapted to change at some point in her life, how a publicly traded company ahs adapted to change and how that company’s stock could be combined with other stocks, bonds or mutual funds to create a successful long-term portfolio.
In her essay, Piller described the process of finding and quitting her first job and finding another job that was a better fit for her.
“In November 2020 I got hired at my new job as a cashier and bagger at a grocery store and so far I really like it,” Piller wrote.
She had to be persistent to find that job, though.
“I have had to learn that it is OK to be let down from something that you want that you didn’t get. During the time that I did not have a job I was applying to many places. I started the job search early after I quit my other job, but it took much longer than I thought… That situation proved and opened my eyes to realize that good things take time, and everything happens for a reason, especially when you least expect it to,” she wrote.
Piller also wrote about how Netflix successfully adapted to technological advancements and changed its business model from a DVD rental service to an online streaming service, and how a successful investment portfolio could include Netflix, along with other companies.
Piller said she hadn’t expected anything to come of the assignment, but she was happy to be recognized.
“Piller developed a plan that would have an impact today and into the future and wowed the team of judges with her essay,” Katrina Cavalli of the SIFMA Foundation wrote in a press release.
“A huge congratulations to Olivia Piller. We think that your work is remarkable. There are thousands of financial professionals that read through the essays in InvestWrite the past fall, and yours was the winner at the state level. That’s phenomenal,” said Melanie Mortimer, president of the SIFMA Foundation who attended the award ceremony virtually.
Eric Goldschmidt, executive director of EconomicsWisconsin, and Sue Bornick, executive director of the Eau Claire Community Foundation also attended the presentation and congratulated Piller for her efforts.
Congratulations were also extended to Jessica Zarnke, Loyal’s financial literacy teacher, for her work in the classroom.
Also, part of the ceremony was the recognition of how Loyal’s financial literacy program came to be. Dr. Eldon Hill, a Loyal native, established an endowment fund through the Eau Claire Community Foundation that supports K-12 financial literacy education and supplies approximately $40,000 in scholarships to graduating Loyal seniors every year. The foundation has invested Hill’s dollars, the earnings from which will be used to fund the scholarships and financial literacy program into perpetuity. The financial literacy program was started in spring 2019. It has created opportunities for students like Piller to learn about the world of investing and money management.
Piller plans to attend UW-Stevens Point in the fall to study elementary education.
Editor Valorie Brecht contributed to this report.
