From the parietal lobe, which senses touch, to the temporal lobe and Broca’s area where language recognition occurs, our brain’s complex actions help us in everyday activities. High school students have a tremendous amount of mental capacity used for everything from playing basketball during gym to writing an essay for a class.

In the span of an average student’s school life, he or she writes countless essays for teachers, classes, and competitions. Most of these essays are lost over the years, and no one ever wonders where they end up. Students only wonder whether they received a C, B, or maybe even an A. But one student has written an essay that will be remembered well beyond her years because it was recognized as beyond extraordinary by the state of Massachusetts and maybe even the nation.

On the first day of school, senior Emily Wright, along with many of her peers, walked into Investing of the Creative Economy (ICE), taught by Mr. Gavron. Some students knew what to expect in the class, while others had no idea.

To help students learn about stock market investing, students were given an imaginary $100,000 dollars to invest in the stock market.  They were taught to strategically place their money for maximum profits.

“We learn how to make smart decisions with our money. For example, setting ourselves up [for] retirement, investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds. We also learn a lot about the economy and [how] it is affected,” said Wright of the class. She soon developed a passion for investing.

In early March, Emily Wright thought nothing of the paper assigned in ICE. It was yet another school paper, although it did have a little twist. Students were to pretend that they were hosting a financial advice TV show about where and where not to place investments, depending on current events.

Emily brainstormed extensively and finally came up with an idea. She wrote about the recent Toyota acceleration problem, with a comparison to the similar problem Audi faced in the 80’s.  Little did Emily know where this essay would end up.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Mr. Gavron asked Emily and a few other students if he could submit their papers for judging at the InvestWrite spring competition. The participants from Emily’s class received a basic understanding of the competition from junior Ben Shelton, who won the Massachusetts InvestWrite fall award.

Each of the chosen students from Mr. Gavron’s ICE class handed in a revised copy of their essay, proofread and perfected. Within a couple of weeks, the results of the competition were released.   Standing in front of the class, Mr. Gavron announced that the winner of the 2010 Massachusetts InvestWrite spring award was none other than Emily Wright.

“It was unexpected…and exciting because I had no idea,” said Wright. “I learned a lot about investing, and it’s definitely something I will use for the rest of my life.”

Emily plans to continue her passion for investing through college; she hopes, in fact, to turn it into her career. She also encourages others to try and join ICE or other business classes offered at the high school “because anyone can invest, and you’ll learn a lot about the economy.”

Emily’s hard work finally paid off with this promising award, and now she can relax her mind, whether it be the parietal lobe or Broca’s area, as her high school career comes to an end.