by Sasha Siclait
Students may have noticed a new room on the second floor of Weyerhaeuser full of new screens displaying a collection of numbers. It is the Whitworth Student Investment Group’s new trading room.
Not to be confused with the Whitworth business club, WSIG was started just over two years ago by a small group of students and has grown to a group of 35 students and consisting of more than 10 different majors who manage a portfolio of $110,000.
WSIG meets every Thursday at 6:15 a.m., but also has weekly sector meetings outside of the regular meeting time to discuss certain events and stock within their sector.
“We have the most dedication of any group on campus, and some days it is hard to get up for a 6:15 a.m. meeting, but the rewards from the hours worked are exponential,” WSIG President Ashley Sievers said.
Inside the trading room is an interactive screen, ticker, software package and nine work stations. The new trading room will not only be used to do their research, but also used as a meeting space. The space is dedicated to WSIG in order to prevent conflict with other classes and lab times.
“In our big sector meetings we have current events discussions, continue learning, speakers from the community and, of course, stock pitches followed by Q&A,” Sievers said. “In our big group meetings we talk more about sector specific events and choose stocks. We research these stocks and decide which to pitch.”
Sievers is the one of seven co-founders of WSIG.
WSIG has seven different sectors, which consist of industrials, healthcare, energy, financials, utilities, technology and consumer. Every Thursday, the big group meeting held where all of WSIG attend while small sector meeting are held during different times of the week. These small sector meeting have smaller groups of people working within the sectors.
The search for a space and the funds for a trading room began with a pitch from group officers to the university leadership and potential donors last spring.
Although trading will still be done online, the trading room will provide essential space needed for meetings and research in which WSIG decides which stocks they are going to pitch. The computers in the trading room also have specific software that will assist in helping with research.
“Anyone interested in investing can attend our meetings as an affiliate and if they would like, apply later to be an analyst. We welcome and encourage all majors across campus,” Sievers said.
Contact Sasha Siclait at ssiclait16@my.whitworth.edu