May 19, 2015 3 min read

PITTSBURGH – The beginnings of a sheepish grin formed as Jake Hancher realized he was a national champion.

Melanie Mortimer, president of the Sifma Foundation, was at the podium early Tuesday afternoon, poised to honor the national winner of Simfa’s InvestWrite essay competition.

She was speaking inside the ornate Omni William Penn ballroom, referring to the finances-related essay that stood out in a field of about 20,000 from students nationwide – and leaking small clues that the Trinity Middle School eighth-grader started to pick up.

Then she made it official, announcing his name near the end of the Adam Smith Distinguished Leadership Award luncheon.

“I had no idea,” said Jake, 14. “I had hope. But I didn’t even know there was such an award.”

Actually, he wasn’t supposed to know. Representatives of Sifma, which has incorporated the InviteWrite competition within its Stock Market Game program, and Economics Pennsylvania, which runs it in the commonwealth, wanted it to be a surprise to him and his father, Jeff, who also was there.

Janice Kuhn, Jake’s Stock Market Game instructor, did know ahead of time. She sat with father and son, beaming inside while not betraying her sentiments facially. How do you get a teen to put on a suit and ride 30 miles?

“That was very difficult,” Kuhn said. “I told him he was getting an award – but not which one.”

Jeff Hancher certainly didn’t know.

“Jake just told us he was being recognized for what he wrote,” he said. “We had no idea it was this magnitude. We just thought we’d come here and listen to people speak.”

InvestWrite targets students in grades 4 through 12, pushing them to analyze investments and set financial goals.

More than 600,000 students nationwide participate in the Stock Market Game program. Of the 20,000 essay submissions, 2,000 come under judges’ scrutiny and one wins. This time, it was a Trinity student.

Jeff, a global account sales manager for Cintas, said he did not impart financial knowledge on his son.

Jake said he started to develop his financial acumen in sixth grade, when Trinity instituted the Stock Market Game.

Heather Ruffa and Kuhn – both gifted support teachers in the district – have run the program there.

Jake invests money in stocks and studies them. And, four-plus years before college, he already plans to attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

His essay focused on the theory put forth by journalist Jason Hall that $10 a day can lead to $1.3 million over the long haul. Using Walt Disney Co. as an example, Jake argued that the theory is applicable.

His rewards for winning are many, and grand. He will spend three days in New York City with either his father or his mother, Janelle, June 9-11, including time at the New York Stock Exchange, where they may get to witness an initial public offering.

He also left the Omni William Penn with a trophy nearly as tall as him, and will get a plaque for his parents. But the top prize likely is the pizza party Jake won for his class.

It was a surprisingly good day for him.

Jake Hancher wasn’t the only winner with Washington or Greene County ties. Liam Ryan, business and information technology teacher at Waynesburg Central High School, received the Sophia Zacharias Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Economics.