By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
In the heart of New York City, students from Mary Immaculate Catholic School’s Motter Business Program stood in the bustling financial capital of the world, looking in wonder at their school’s logo lit brightly in Times Square, during a school trip to the city March 15-19.
The Big Apple outing was a first for the Farmers Branch school, organizers said — and a true testament to the power of perseverance.
“We started a business program, and my goal has always been that the children would be able to go to New York City and visit … the New York Stock Exchange,” said Father Alfonse Nazzaro, pastoral administrator of Mary Immaculate Catholic Parish, “but it turns out that in order to be able to get a tour inside, you have to be invited by a publicly traded company; and so, it’s more difficult than you can imagine.”
The priest and other school leaders started making calls to see if a connection could lead to an invitation for the school’s students. Again and again, he said, they received the same response: “Every single one of them told me it was impossible.”
Finally, Father Nazzaro called an old acquaintance — the 11th person he contacted, the priest shared — who happened to be sitting next to the president of the Nasdaq in Davos, Switzerland.
“A few days later,” Father Nazzaro said, “we were personally invited by the president of the Nasdaq to go visit.”
A month and a half after that — following a flurry of preparations — 15 Mary Immaculate eighth graders and their parents were standing in the financial district of New York City.
‘Once in a lifetime’
Entering into the sights and sounds of the city, the contingent of students, donning their school uniforms, started their trip strong with a visit to a major site in the world of finance: the Nasdaq. The U.S.-based exchange is the second-largest stock exchange in the world.
Surrounded by screens in a conference room, the students and their parents heard from members of the Nasdaq team about market intelligence, about when companies go public, and about skills they can start honing to foster a future in finance. They also received a private tour of the place.
“I loved visiting the Nasdaq,” said Siobhan Sabo, an eighth grade student in the business program. “Being able to enter their headquarters and witness the behind the scenes of a stock exchange is truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.”
She recalled a memorable moment when she and her classmates had the chance to venture into the recording studio to watch a newly traded company go public to the market and ring Nasdaq’s opening bell.
“Not many schools get to have an experience like this,” she said.
Then, as the group ventured outside, they found their school’s logo up in lights in Times Square.
“To be able to go to the Nasdaq and see your school’s emblem in Times Square — it doesn’t get much more magical than that,” said Siobhan’s mother, Sarah Sabo, who said the moment brought tears to her eyes. “You can’t help but think: God is so good.”
Aside from the Nasdaq — and several cultural and historical excursions throughout the trip, from visiting the 9/11 Memorial to watching the musical “Hamilton” — the MIS group also made a stop at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, where they received a private tour and learned about the skills needed to one day work on Wall Street.
“BlackRock is one of the biggest global investment firms in the world, with billions of dollars under management,” said Claire Darr, Mary Immaculate’s director of wonder & excitement. “Not many people actually get to go inside one of these big institutions.”
Education in action
Despite the novelty of the trip — the flashy sights, sounds, and smells of the city that are so foreign to life in North Texas — the eighth grade MIS students were well prepared to take on the new adventure in NYC, according to Anthony Pulido, director of Mary Immaculate’s Motter Business Program.
As products of the Motter Business Program — a sixth through eighth grade financial literacy curriculm at Mary Immaculate — his students had been formed for years in concepts of personal finance, markets, and business. They were well prepared, then, to interact with the bigwigs of business despite their youth.
“I could see the three years of their business education come to life in terms of how they interacted with our hosts, how they networked, what great questions they asked,” he said, “and a lot of the times too, the people presenting to us were so surprised that they were only in eighth grade.”
The students asked for business cards, he recalled, and were proactive in both forming connections and following up with thank you letters and emails.
“So many kids, whether in high school and sometimes even college, don’t understand what investment banking is, or what is consulting, or what’s a stock, or what’s a bond,” Pulido said. “These kids, I think, have a good idea of that career path if they were interested in it and know that it’s accessible because of the connections they made.”
“As their teacher,” he added, “I was very proud to be able to see the kids put their learning into action.”
Next year’s set of eighth grade business program students are set to have a similarly hands-on experience, too, Pulido shared.
“We have been invited back by the Nasdaq,” he said, “and so we are working on a trip again for next year.”
Cutline for featured image: Mary Immaculate Catholic School Motter Business Program students pose for a photo with the school’s logo during a trip to New York City, March 15-19. (Mary Immaculate Catholic School photo)
