CRANBERRY TWP — A Haine Middle School student this summer placed first in the state in a competition dealing with the stock market.

Olivia Pezich of Cranberry Township, a seventh grader at Haine, submitted an essay in which she compared and contrasted two stocks. The young student picked Hershey and Nestle, and crafted an argument for why Hershey would be the better stock.

Olivia won the state competition in this national contest. She won $400 for her efforts, with $200 coming from the Economics Pennsylvania group and $200 from Butler County Community College.

Called the InvestWrite program, the competition included 20,000 students from across the country, all of whom are between the sixth and eighth grades.

The competition is designed to help students analyze investments and financial goals in an 850-word essay.

Kimberly Zacherl, Olivia’s mother, said she is proud of her daughter and her financial acumen.

“I’m happy that all of her hard work paid off,” she said. “She loves math and was really excited to participate in the stock market challenge.”

Zacherl said her daughter wants to be a math teacher when she grows up.