The winter session of Arnerich Massena’s Rock the Street Wall Street (RTSWS) program culminated in a field trip to Arnerich Massena’s office, where the students got a first-hand experience of what it’s like to work in the financial industry. Rock the Street Wall Street is a nonprofit dedicated to delivering investment literacy and mentorship to high school girls to help inspire them to consider careers in finance. Arnerich Massena volunteers spent five weeks over the fall and winter term working with students directly at Grant High School to deliver the RTSWS curriculum and provide financial literacy education, and now, the students came to us.

About a dozen students from Grant High School’s Rock the Street Wall Street Club spent half a day at Arnerich Massena learning about the investment industry and finance careers. We shared presentations, engaged in interactive sessions, and hosted lunch, and the students came away with a deeper and broader understanding of what types of careers are available in financial services and how they might work toward one. They also picked up additional investment knowledge which hopefully sparked their interest to learn more.

Senior Wealth Strategist Glen Goland, JD, CFP® started the day discussing technological innovations in finance, in particular the algorithmic trading that makes direct indexing possible. He explained how investors can use that to align their investments with their values, as well as building tax-efficient portfolios.

We then brought in special guest Melissa Freeman from the Oregon Venture Fund to talk about how venture capital works, and how OVF selects the companies in which they invest. She touched on her own career path, and the effort her industry is making to encourage diversity among entrepreneurs.

Melissa’s presentation was followed by breakout sessions, where the students separated into small groups to meet with individual Arnerich Massena departments and employees to understand some of the different types of jobs and careers in the office. They visited workspaces and had the opportunity to ask questions.

Arnerich Massena’s Research & Analytics Department then hosted a mock manager meeting, in which they showcased their process for interviewing investment managers. During the course of the presentation, they helped define investment-related vocabulary such as basis points, top-down vs. bottom-up investing, active share, asset classes, growth vs. value style, and more.

The girls asked thoughtful questions throughout the day, and were fascinated and engaged. At lunchtime, they worked together to complete a quiz about what they had learned, demonstrating their attentiveness and interest. We are honored by this opportunity to share a little bit of our world and pleased that the students seemed to come away inspired and excited. Arnerich Massena’s team of RTSWS volunteers are looking forward to beginning the spring session of the program shortly, which will be focused on professional development and career mentorship.

Thank you to Grant High School; Madeline Kokes, the Career Coordinator at Grant; Shelah Kelso, Grant's accounting instructor; Rock the Street Wall Street; and all the Arnerich Massena volunteers for helping us to invest in the next generation!

Check out a few additional photos from the field trip below.