Students strike it rich in the Big Apple

Thomas Marra
Staff Writer

Members of the Investment Club at Hudson Valley had the rare opportunity of getting a tour of the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 27.

A total of 53 students and faculty members, including many from Hudson Valley’s Investment Club, loaded onto a bus and took a ride down to Wall Street on Friday.

“I haven’t slept in 48 hours, in preparation and anticipation of this tour, and I am so pumped right now that I probably won’t sleep for another 48 hours,” said Investment Club President Kyle Hudson, on the ride home from the trip. “Honestly, this has been the best day of my life.”

Students interested in going into the field of finance, like club member Ezra Anderson, said they enjoyed every part of this trip.

“I watch CNBC almost every day, so seeing the anchors that I respect so much on set was awesome,” Anderson said.

Students also heard stories from people about how they got started in finance.

“Talking to different brokers on how they got their start in the world of finance was very awesome as well,” Anderson said. “I got to hear a lot of different stories on how brokers got to where they are now.”

Peter T. Costa, governor with the New York Stock Exchange, president of Empire Executions Inc. (a boutique trading firm on the floor of the NYSE) and CNBC market analyst, led the group on the tour and spent hours with the club members answering all the questions they had.

“He shared with us excellent advice about success in business and with people, and, of course, he had many interesting things to say about the market as well,” said Investment Club adviser Joe Stenard.
Participants in the tour were fascinated by the fast-pace of the stock exchange and were appreciative of all the hard work that was put into this trip.

“It was amazing to see capitalism from a front row seat,” said HonorScholar student and Investment Club member Betsy Stenard, who went on the tour of the NYSE and the Financial District with the club. “It was very evident that much planning and preparation was dedicated to making this trip a success.”
The trip was arranged by Hudson Valley alumnus Josh Carroll. Both students and faculty expressed their gratitude for this opportunity.

“A student taking the initiative to provide that opportunity to other students was really fantastic,” said Jodi Mather, Entrepreneurs Club adviser and chaperone for this trip. “Over the years, I’ve seen the investment club do things, but this was something really unique.”

Mather said her favorite part about the trip was getting to experience all of this with her own kids and students, as well as being the largest group of visitors there.

“The thing that made me smile was when I found out that Hudson Valley, of all the investment clubs from all the colleges and even high schools in the country that have been there to visit, was the largest group,” she said.

Mather is glad, along with the students, to have been able to watch the IPO, or an initial public offering.

“We saw a company, for the first time, sell their stock publicly,” she said. “We got to watch how they set the price, which was really interesting because it seems like it’s an easy process, but it actually took a couple hours to come up with a price.”

The students were interested in seeing the things they do in the classroom occurring live right in front of them. Every student involved seemed to love the trip and expressed that they would love to see more like this offered.