By: Kate Luce
Co-Editor-in-Chief
By raising money over the past year through the stock market, the IU South Bend Investment Club donated $4,000 to La Casa de Amistad, a local non-for-profit, this past week. The non-for-profit is a youth and community center offering educational, cultural and advocacy services on the west side of South Bend.
“We were all already familiar with La Casa. Me, personally, I have worked personally with Sam Centellas, the guy who runs La Casa. I have always liked what they have done. They have always done great work. We just thought it would be a good opportunity,” said John Desouza, president of the club.
The Investment Club was formed in the fall of 2019 by a few Integrated New Media students at IU South Bend. The club was started by a former professor, Mark Bradford. Bradford invested $20,000 of real money into the stock market, the club itself advised him on where the money would go and who to invest in.
“We meet every week to talk about which stocks to invest in, which ones we think are going to do well. We do other technical things, such as social media, and try to get the club more recognized at IUSB, especially for the most part, we will be meeting on Zoom,” said Lorenzo Martinez, vice president.
Bradford started a similar club at Saint Mary’s College before coming to IU South Bend to do the same.
“The whole goal of the club, in general, is to teach people about the basics of the stock market. We had a lot of people who were coming in, and I want to say the vast majority, I want to say maybe somewhere between 85%-90% of the people who were coming into the club, really had no knowledge of what the stock market was or even as an individual you can participate,” Martinez said.
The club’s mission is to bring wealth empowerment to anyone who is interested in learning. From those who know little about the stock market, to others who are finance majors, the Investment Club welcomes everyone to join.
Despite the pandemic, the club was able to raise almost $10,000 of excess funds during the last academic year. Donating the $4,000 to La Casa de Amistad, the rest of the funds will be put back into this year’s club to invest, and hopefully have more to donate to a local non-for-profit.
The plan for this year is to do the same: invest in the stock market to raise a profit and donate to the community. The Investment Club will be actively trading soon. Interested students can take part in the club are encouraged to
