Wednesday mornings in Rockwell Business 101, the Summit Fund class decides stocks to invest in, pooling from $250,000 to $300,000 of class money.

The class is broken into 11 sectors including the energy sector, which presented yesterday. Each sector must work to compile the top companies they want to invest in and present often to stay on top of the ever-changing market.

In their presentation, students in the energy sector presented adjustments they would like to make from their current investments, discussing the pros and cons of each company in energy-related stocks.

Energy sector member John Hilfiker, a senior finance and economics double major, said today was different from usual in terms of their presentation.

“We don’t usually get reamed,” Hilfiker said speaking on the tough questions his group faced during the presentation.

The class deals with large sums of real money. In order to feel confident about the number of shares they would purchase in the companies the energy sector had presented, classmates weigh all possible outcomes to come to an intelligent decision of where the money should go.

The presentation pinpointed why they wanted to get rid of their shares in two companies and pick up further shares in four other companies.

“We want to be sure that in the energy sector we are not all invested in refining, we need to be diverse, because if for instance oil takes a hit, we have other options such as those in production of rigs and manufacturing. This provides us with diversity,” Hilfiker said.

The energy sector chose to invest in products such as pipes and manufacturing products related the oil and water industries and a company called American Water Works Association.

Buying shares in the water company is very beneficial because they supply drinking water, water waste and other services to more than 14 million people, according to energy sector member Dongyue (Alice) Wang, a senior business administration major.

Other class members vote on where to allocate money. The energy sector convinced the class to invest in their proposed companies after breaking down the companies’ trends, a display of the statistics and pros and cons on why they jumped to these decisions after hours of work.

According to Charles Wagener, a senior finance major, the presentations are ongoing all semester. The next one after yesterday’s proposal would be a market update to note where the market stands going into the new year.

Participating in the Summit Fund opens a world of opportunities, according to Wagener.

“We get to work closely with professors, other students who have become very good friends and even alumni, which opens up doors of job opportunities.”

According to professor Frank Smith, this program is the best he has seen. Students get to use Bloomberg,  the same technology professional businessmen use to analyze data.

“This opportunity lets students work with what is used in the real world,” Smith said.

Collegian Reporter Josephine Bush can be reached at news@collegian.com