GARDEN CITY TEACHER NAMED MERRILL LYNCH DISTINGUISHED ADVISOR
Kyle Myres, a middle school teacher at St. Michael Catholic School in Garden City, S.C., has received the Merrill Lynch Distinguished Advisor Award sponsored by Merrill Lynch and the South Carolina Council on Economic Education (SCCEE).
Established by the SCCEE in 2005, the Distinguished Advisor Award recognizes a S.C. teacher who has excelled in using The Merrill Lynch South Carolina Stock Market GameTM in the classroom, integrating it into the curriculum in innovative ways.
In two versions of this competition, teams of S.C. students in grades 4-12 in public, private, and home schools invest $100,000 of hypothetical money in companies on the U.S. stock exchange over a 10-week period and compete for the top portfolio value.
Ms. Myres teaches mathematics and science in grades 6, 7, and 8 at St. Michael Catholic School. She considers the Merrill Lynch Stock Market GameTM an excellent teaching tool to bring the real world into her Algebra classrooms and to get students excited about mathematics and finance.
The game requires students to use percentages, graphing, probability, decimals, simple interest and other mathematics knowledge as well as research and decision-making skills. Her students discuss supply and demand and simulate their own stock exchange floor. They explore the value of savings over the long-term and the pros and cons of different types of investments.
Even the students with shaky math skills can function easily in this program, says Ms. Myres. One of the best success stories this school year is a student who has struggled with math and doesnt usually want to do his homework. On his own time, he was secretly tracking the release of a new gaming software so that he could buy corporate shares before the price went up. With the Stock Market Game as a training ground, we will soon have another generation of fearless investors.
A Myrtle Beach native, Ms. Myres earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Duke University. She is completing her first year as a teacher at St. Michael Catholic School. She taught previously in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and worked for eight years with Radio Shack Corporation as a corporate project manager and systems analyst. She resides in Georgetown County.
As a Merrill Lynch Distinguished Advisor Award winner, Ms. Myres received a $750 cash award and an expense-paid trip to New York City this summer to attend the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Teachers Workshop on Wall Street. This five-day workshop gives teachers from states across the country an inside look at Americas financial heart, exciting skills to take back to school, and a great time in the Big Apple. Wall Street executives and other business leaders host lectures and discussions and lead hands-on activities and field trips. Teachers also have the opportunity to visit the NYSE trading floor and meet the people who buy, sell and trade stocks on a daily basis.
Merrill Lynch is proud to have an opportunity to recognize outstanding teachers like Kyle Myres, said Jeff Adams, Director of the Merrill Lynch complex in Columbia. Through her creative use of the Stock Market GameTM she is inspiring her students to become the next generation of savvy earners and investors.
Ms. Myres received the award at the SCCEEs annual awards luncheon on April 28 in Columbia.
Said SCCEE President Helen Meyers, Kyle represents the best and brightest in the teaching profession today. She goes the extra mile to make learning fun and to give her students the knowledge and skills they will need to make good financial decisions for themselves, their families and their employers.
The South Carolina Council on Economic Education is a non-profit business-education partnership dedicated to providing teachers with continuing education in economics and personal finance. The SCCEE was established in 1975 to help ensure that all South Carolina students leave high school with a sound foundation in economic principles, an understanding of our economy and how it works, and a strong appreciation for the American free enterprise system. Through the SCCEE, more than 6,000 elementary, middle and high school students in public, private, and home schools in SC participate in The Merrill Lynch South Carolina Stock Market GameTM each school year. The SCCEEs offices are located at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, in Columbia. The SCCEE and its six Centers for Economic Education are affiliated with the National Council on Economic Education.
Merrill Lynch is one of the world’s leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 36 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.8 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, the company is one of the world’s largest managers of financial assets. Firmwide, assets under management total $544 billion. ###
Photo Shows:
Jeff Adams (left), Director of the Merrill Lynch, Columbia, Kyle Myres (center) and St. Michaels Catholic School Principal Sister Roberta Thoen (right).