High-School Students Learn the Ways of Wall Street — at USF
Fifty-five high-school students converged on the Hilltop this summer, eager to learn how Wall Street works.
“Wall Street Academy teaches financial literacy, explains financial markets, and introduces students to investing,” said Tim Rasmussen MBA ’13, director of the Silk Family Investment Institute and co-founder of Wall Street Academy. “We cover a broad range of topics, from the basics of stocks and bonds to global financial markets.”
For five days in June and five days in July, two cohorts of students came to campus from as far away as Hong Kong and from as near as San Francisco, Rasmussen said.
They worked in the Investment Lab with FactSet and Bloomberg Terminal, the software tools that finance professionals use.
They heard pro tips direct from industry leaders including Ivan Asensio, managing director at Silicon Valley Bank; Joseph Gallagher, former vice chairman at Credit Suisse; Vladimir Ofitserov MS ’16, managing partner at Revo Capital; and Rasmussen, a former vice president at the Uphold digital asset trading company in New York.
And they visited the offices of BlackRock and J.P. Morgan in downtown San Francisco.
Wall Street Academy “opened the door,” said Brett Berthiaume, a rising junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. “BlackRock was a highlight for me — learning about wealth management from wealth managers.”
Sam Seaberg, a rising junior at California High School in San Ramon, in the East Bay, said he was excited to meet fellow students who share his interest in finance and investing. He also was glad to network with managers and interns at J.P. Morgan.
“It was great to meet venture capital investors who might fund me in the future,” he said. “I’m starting an AI business this fall, called LuciTech. It’s an app that creates apps.”
Seaberg invited the people at J.P. Morgan to connect with him on LinkedIn.
