By Evan Lu, Staff Reporter
On Wednesday mornings, while most students are still sluggishly brushing their teeth or groggily eating breakfast, Investment Club is alive with activity. Students pile into Room 213 for the club’s weekly meeting on recent financial news, which stocks are the best to invest in, and basic economic fundamentals such as supply and demand. In previous years, Investment Club held meetings directly after school, but following the district-wide delayed start times implemented this year, Investment Club is one of the first clubs to move its meetings to an earlier time.
Investment Club meetings are supposed to start at 7:15, but in reality, they usually start around 7:25. Due to the club’s large membership of 180 people, it was hard for the club to adapt to the changing start times. Junior Will Norris, co-president of Investment Club, was motivated to adjust the club’s start time after considering multiple options.
“I really looked at it as necessity versus inconvenience. A lot of people with after school sports are unable to attend because of their sport. Especially with the later start times, sports are leaving before school even ends, so it’s hard for people to attend,” Norris said. “However, for a lot of people that are voicing their opinion, it’s about inconvenience; they don’t want to get up (early in the morning). When we did a poll, it was about an even split between the two.”
Norris believes that the new meeting times have not hurt the club and instead may have improved the environment and productivity of the club.
“I’d say we’ve probably lost around ten members a meeting, but I feel like it’s almost a better environment with less people. When we have a lot of people, (the meeting room) gets very congested. In the morning, the vibe is a lot different and nearly everybody has a seat now. (Some) say, (during) morning meetings people would be tired and aren’t ready for it yet. However, I think it kind of warms you up for the day,” Norris said.
Norris, who also works as a caddy at Waynesborough Country Club and invests his own earnings in stocks, encourages students to learn about Investment Club if they have time and are interested in finance.
“A lot of the time, people neglect finance because it seems boring and isn’t as flashy as some other (topics), but I think knowing the value of your money and how you can go about increasing that is a great (thing) to know,” Norris said.
Evan Lu can be reached at [email protected]
