The classroom meets the boardroom in the popular course “BUS-290-003 Special Topics in Business Administration: Student Led Investment Fund” as students learn the ins and outs of investing using real money.
Funded by a gift from Hammack School of Business (HSB) namesake and donor Q. William Hammack, the student investment fund has grown by 32% from the original $100,000 over the course of four semesters. The class was first offered in Spring Semester 2023.
“We have 19 enrolled this semester, and we’re seeing a lot of interest in students outside of the Hammack School,” said HSB dean, Dr. Stephen Craft, who teaches the special topics class. “We started the course with students who had a technical interest in the market and how companies raise capital. Now we’re drawing a much more diverse group of students in terms of their academic background who want to learn about investing in general.”
The semester is just underway, but the syllabus calls for groups within the class to research companies and make investment recommendations. A recent lecture on price-to-earnings ratios raised eyebrows and awareness of just how much information and good old-fashioned mathematics factor into investment decisions.
Investing with real money rather than a simulation makes students take assignments seriously.
Junior business major Tyler Hymel ’26 from Tampa grew up in a business family, first learning about the intricacies of investing.
“I took this course because I wanted to go deeper and learn how to do this for myself,” Hymel said.
Engineering student Neal Nankani ’26, a junior from Decatur, was compelled to take the class after interning this summer at Coca-Cola.
“I discovered this summer during my internship that it is very helpful for an engineer to understand how companies work,” Nankani said. “I wanted to learn more about how they are structured financially and what impact the stock market has on their business decisions.”
For junior David Raygoza ’26 from Atlanta, who is also an engineering major, the appeal of the class was more from a personal finance viewpoint.
“I wanted to learn how to be a better investor,” Raygoza said. “I was always interested in how the stock market works and how you make money.”
The special topics course is team-taught by Craft, Oglethorpe Controller Freedom Bannerholt, and Pete Stobie, Oglethorpe’s Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. The course will be offered again Spring Semester 2025.
“This course teaches more than how companies are run; it teaches life skills,” Stobie said. “They learn a lot from each other, doing their research, hearing the presentations, and making investment decisions. This is the kind of class that makes Oglethorpe unique.”
