State Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, second from right, meets with Butler Catholic School students who placed first in the state in a legislative challenge. The students are, from left, Noah Miller, Spencer Koehring, John Shulik, Aaron D'Amore, Peter Schramm, Alek Bollinger and Becky Nowacki. Not pictured is team member Laura Caparosa.

Butler Catholic School students recently completed two feats. They increased their stock market game portfolios by double digits and placed first in Pennsylvania in a legislative challenge.

Seventh and eighth graders at the school participated in the Stock Market Game of PA sponsored by the Economics Council of PA. The teams increased their portfolios by up to 55 percent, vaulting them to first, second, third, fifth and eighth places among 35 teams in the northwest region.

The students learned about stock market shares, transaction fees, splits, diversifying and small, medium and large caps. The students do their own research, find listings, select new companies and search different sectors.

For the legislative challenge part of the accomplishment, about 30 state senators and representatives competed with teams in their districts as to the worth of their portfolios.

The Butler Catholic team bested not only the officials, but also 20 other teams from eighth to 12th grades. The return on their game investment of $100,000 was 26 percent.

Team members are Laura Caparosa, Becky Nowacki, Alek Bollinger, Aaron D'Amore, Spencer Koehring, Noah Miller, John Shulik and Peter Schramm. Their teacher and adviser is Myna Sadowski.

They had lunch with state Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, and traveled Wednesday to Harrisburg to be presented on the floor of the state Senate.