For the first time in school history, Branson will be entering the Wharton Investment Competition with five teams of seven students led by David Hanson.

The Wharton Investment Competition is a prestigious annual finance competition hosted by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. There are over 4,000 high school students from all over the world competing this year.

Hanson, chief financial and operating officer, said that the reasons Branson decided to enter this year were in students’ interests.

“We have a number of students who are interested in finance and in investments, and I thought this would be a great way to offer them a learning experience but also a little bit of competition,” said Hanson.

Students in all four grades at Branson are participating in the competition.

“I signed up as a chance to learn what the market is like in real life. I saw it as a great learning opportunity,” Miles Rudsenske ‘27 said.

The investments being made in the competition are simulated in a short case study.

As Hanson said, “[Students] can invest in stocks, bonds, fixed income, and cash if they want to. So every team has pretty broad discretion on how to invest.”

There are some challenges for students in the competition, however — especially since it is Branson’s first year participating.

“Because we don’t offer an investment class, students are coming at this with very different levels of understanding,” said Hanson.

However, interest has emerged for Branson to participate in similar competitions and have additional classes on finance.

This competition goes hand-in-hand with the new corporate finance class being offered this year to seniors. 

Hanson said, “I think if we could offer a few more classes about finance and investment, that will open us up to be able to become involved in far more competitions like [Future Business Leaders of America].” 

Along with all of its benefits, there are many factors for students to consider before committing to participation in these competitions.

“There’s a commitment of time, but otherwise there really is no downside, and you’re going to learn something,” said Hanson.