After examining DirecTV’s financial statements and looking
at the stock’s technical data, such as price-to-earnings
ratios, they determined whether the stock was a buy or sell. But
they hadn’t even graduated high school yet.
The team of three high school students met in an on-campus
computer lab on Saturday as part of a mentoring program set up by
the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Gabby Benitez, a junior at King Drew Magnet High School, worked
on a stock-picking competition with her team ““ only one of
the benefits of participating in the Riordan Program.
“You’re learning things people in college are
learning right now,” Benitez said. In her second year of the
program, “It sparked something in me to learn and push to go
beyond,” she said.
Striving to boost diversity in the world of business, the
Riordan Program inspires students from underrepresented communities
to pursue higher-level education in fields of business.
The program targets high school students, college students and
recent college graduates.
Participants grow “academically, professionally, and
personally,” said Lisa Woon, program coordinator. The program
provides mentorship, business school admission preparation, and
educates participants about various aspects of finance.
In addition, mentorship enhances career development and helps
participants prepare for admission to the country’s top
university and graduate programs.
The short-term goal of the program is to “increase
outreach in the Los Angeles county area … and increase graduate
school exposure,” said Alex Lawrence, executive director and
former Riordan fellow.
He states the program’s long-term goals include making
participants “ready for the application process in a
competitive fashion.”
To date, approximately 1,600 students have participated in the
Riordan Program.
There are two distinct programs. The Riordan Scholars Program
targets high school students, whereas the Riordan Fellows Program
focuses on college students and recent graduates.
About 40 high schools, public and private, are actively targeted
for Riordan scholar recruitment.
The scholar’s program holds an annual stock market
competition, which will take place March 5.
The event gives students a chance to display what they have
learned over the course of the program. Students are divided into
teams and learn about what factors affect the rise and fall of
stock prices.
Over the course of the program, teams will evaluate 16 publicly
traded companies and give buy or sell ratings. Through PowerPoint
presentations, teams such as the one Benitez is a part of will
present their research during the competition.
The biggest challenge for Benitez is “going up in front of
a large audience of people. … Your family is there looking at
you.”
Parents are impressed at how their children can deliver
presentations evaluating stocks, Woon said.
In the process of preparing for the competition, participants
learn about finance, operations, and marketing, all key aspects to
understanding business.
During Saturday sessions once a month, Anderson faculty and
students teach the scholars how to evaluate individual stocks using
a variety of technical indicators.
Participants will learn how to read corporate financial
statements and learn from “mentorship with faculty and
alumni,” Woon said.
After the competition, Riordan fellows will have an open house
March 19. The event gives participants “exposure to the whole
world of applying to graduate school,” said Carlos
Ballesteros, a fifth-year business economics student and former
Riordan fellow.
Various elements of the admissions process are covered, such as
essays, interviews, and the Graduate Management Admission Test.
Participants get to network with former fellows who also
elaborate on their experiences of applying to business school.
Ballesteros praised the “support system” of having
current Anderson students as mentors. “They can tell you
first-hand how it is,” he said.
The outreach program was co-founded in 1987 by Anderson
Professor William Ouchi and Richard Riordan, former Los Angeles
mayor and current state secretary of education.
When Professor Ouchi discovered that few Anderson students were
first generation college students, he decided to establish an
outreach program.
He asked Anderson students about their motivation to attend
business school. As many of them credited their business interests
to a key person or mentor in their life, Ouchi chose to create a
program that focused on mentorship.
Though the program has been successful, it faces challenges
ahead as it expands.
“We’re growing in numbers,” Lawrence said.
Increasing faculty and finding industry speakers are essential for
“participants to have the greatest possible exposure,”
he said.
The past success of the program has generated demand and
interest.
“We’re a product of our own success,” Woon
said.