Smyrna Girls Succeed in Investment Challenge

A group of Campbell High School students were surprised with a check recently after completing a three-year investing initiative in partnership with the Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta.

The ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge gives girls practical, hands-on investing experience while allowing them to keep their gains in the form of college scholarships.

The team of girls, ages 17-18, spent the past three years building and managing a virtual $50,000 diversified, real-time portfolio, guided by trained Girls Inc. staff and ING U.S. employee volunteers. The program is part of an integrated curriculum to help increase financial literacy in Atlanta.

The students earned a total of $13,726, a 27 percent return on the $50,000 virtual portfolio, said ING U.S. spokesperson Mary Sullivan.

Two-thirds of portfolio gains will be awarded to the girls as scholarships with one-third going to support programming at Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta.

"The investment challenge was the experience of a lifetime," said Kierra Ross, a participant in the challenge. "Money makes the world go round and as female it is definitely an advantage to understand the stock market. I think that this is the greatest effort of the term 'Pay it Forward' for my generation.”

Launched in 2009, the ING-Girls Inc. Investment Challenge was created with the goal of combining the expertise of Girls Inc. in educating girls and the financial knowledge of the ING U.S. to help girls attain economic self-sufficiency.

ING U.S. has a nearly 800 employees working in the Atlanta area, primarily at its office facility at Powers Ferry Road.