Prior to the pandemic, we gave you an inside look at our Student-Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) club, an upper school club dedicated to learning and navigating the world of investment, finance, and stock market strategies. One year later, we revisit the club to see how the ongoing public health crisis has affected their work in the stock markets and their club as a whole.

The biggest lesson SMIF club members have learned since the pandemic hit is the importance of diversifying their portfolio. “We have performed quite well due to how diverse our current portfolio is,” explains club president Lucy Sinwell ’21. “With legs in different areas of the economy, a hit to a certain sector doesn't hurt us badly, meaning we can perform better than the market.”

Having the foresight to examine which industries might hurt or thrive during the pandemic has allowed SMIF to grow their investments, despite the overall hit to the economy. For example, they saw a few of their stocks in the packaging industry perform extremely well because the demand for shipping, and therefore packaging products, increased exponentially since COVID.

While the world has undergone drastic changes in the way we live our daily lives, some of these adjustments have proved beneficial. One such benefit for the Student-Managed Investment Fund club? Online meetings. Their club meetings, previously limited to break times during the school day, were moved online and now occur at night. This not only allows them to meet for longer periods of time, but also gives the opportunity to host guest speakers from all over the country. Students recently heard from Chip Hazard, General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, who runs a hedge fund in Boston as well as ESD parent and President of American Airlines Robert Isom.

As the stock market continues to ebb and flow, the students plan to end their school year with high returns, handing off the impressive portfolio to the rising seniors in the club.

In 2018, the Oglesby/Allison Student-Managed Investment Fund was endowed by Edward Oglesby '90, John Oglesby, and Peggy Allison to ensure it continues in perpetuity. We are thankful for this generous contribution that continues to educate students in the field of finance.