This Month in St. Louis History

Route 66 completed; fluoride in drinking water

The last mile of the old Route 66 highway in Missouri was finished in January, 1931, and St. Louis began adding fluoride in drinking water in January, 1963.

Also, in January, 1939, a thousand southeast Missouri sharecroppers went on strike to protest the way landowners and government regulations kept them in poverty.

These were some of significant events in past Januarys that shaped Missouri's history.

To help kids get a sense of the state's colorful past, Young Saint Louis.com combines with the Missouri History Museum each month to give details of past happenings. If you want to learn more about past historical events, visit www.mohistory.org.

Route 66 highway completed in 1931

In the early 20th century, the Route 66 highway was the nearest thing to a continental highway. It was a network of federal highways that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Later, it was extended all the way to the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica.

The last mile of the highway in Missouri finally was paved in Phelps County, Mo., on Jan. 5, 1931. It wasn't until mid-1938 that the whole route was paved. The final section was near Oldham, Texas.

The length of the whole highway was just short of 2,500 miles and proved to be a boon to the growth of California.

Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said, "Route 66 is a giant chute down which everything loose in this country is sliding into southern California."

In Missouri, Route 66 was from St. Louis to Joplin, Mo., on its way to Tulsa, Okla., and points southwestward.

St. Louis is the largest city along the route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

During its history, parts of the highway route were relocated from time to time. For instance, in 1935, the route was shifted to cross the Mississippi River on the Chain of Rocks Bridge in north St. Louis.

In 1952, the Chain of Rocks Bridge was one of eight stops in the dedication of the highway as the Will Rogers Highway.

But, with the coming of the Interstate Highway system, Route 66 was decommissioned piece by piece.

The final stretch was dropped in 1985 when a 5.7 mile stretch at Williams, Arizona, was replaced by I-40. The old Route 66 has been replaced by segments of Interstates 55, 44, 40, 15 and 10.

For a map with points of interest along Route 66 through St. Louis, visit www.missouri66.org/history.html.

To strengthen teeth, fluoride added to drinking water

One of the landmarks in St. Louis' public health history came in January, 1963, when St. Louis County began fluoridation of municipal drinking water. The preventive health measure started after a U.S. Supreme Court decision okaying mandatory fluoridation.

Fluoridation of community water supplies was a controversial proposal throughout the country. But, it is considered now by health officials to be one of the premier community health measures of the 20th century.

But, proving a link between fluoride and preventing tooth decay came in an unusual way.

In the early 1900s, dentists in such places as Colorado Springs, Colo., and Bauxite, Ala., noted that some of their patients had permanent stains on their teeth. But, they also found that those patients with stains had a lesser amount of decay.

At that time, tooth decay was one of the primary dental problems in the United States.

Advanced analysis by a chemist for an Aluminum Company of America plant in Alabama found local public water supplies where teeth stains occurred had high levels of fluoride.

Further lengthy research, scientists showed the stains could be eliminated if fluoride levels were lowered. But, decay-fighting properties remained even at low fluoride levels.

The first field-tests of controlled fluoridation of public water supplies started in 1945 in four pairs of cities, including three in the United States and one pair in Canada. By the 1960s, there were federal standards for optimum fluoridation levels.

Lower amounts were recommended for warm-weather states where water consumption was higher, with higher amounts in cold-weather areas.

But, public opposition to what they thought of as poisoning of water supplies continued. One legal challenge was in St. Louis County. But, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it.

For an interesting history of fluoridation of water supplies, you can visit: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview.mmwrhtml.mm4841a1.htm.

For St. Louis County health highlights, visit www.co.st-louis.mo.us/doh/history.htm.

The Missouri sharecroppers' strike of 1939

The Civil War was fought to end slavery in the United States. But, in 1939, a group of 1,000 sharecroppers in the Missouri Bootheel staged a highway-closing strike that brought public attention to a different type of servitude.

The Sharecroppers Strike shut down two highways in southeast Missouri and brought national attention to harsh rules on Bootheel cotton plantations. The protest also showed the inattention by government officials to the poverty conditions of sharecroppers.

Sharecropping involves people who work the land and those that own the land. At harvest time, the workers and landowners were to share the income from the crop. However, oftentimes, the workers' share of the income was small.

Many of the protesters were African Americans. But, there were some poor white sharecroppers who joined to protest against low wages and harsh rules.

The leader of the protest was Owen Whitfield. He was a preacher as well as organizer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU).

The protest spurred increased media coverage across the country.

The turmoil was increased when the Missouri health commissioner ruled the roadside camps were a public health menace. In many cases, state police disbanded the camps.

Officials of the Farm Security Administration, a Depression-era agency, became involved. By 1940, construction started on a public housing project to house the protesters. A total of 595 houses were constructed in villages segregated by race.

In 1945, Congress ordered the FSA to sell the villages. Original plans called for selling each village to one purchaser. But, public protest led to revising the sale order to include sales of individual homes.

There are two websites that provide more details of this important protest. You can visit www.umsl.edu/services/library/blackstudies/homeless.htm as well as http://owl.webster.edu/freedom/thestory.html.

Fourth in a 12-part series

Famous St. Louisans in aviation and beer making

(Editor's note: This is fourth in a series about famous St. Louisans, who are buried in local cemeteries. The information is from Kevin Amsler's book, "Final Resting Place: The Lives and Deaths of Famous St.Louisans.")

Aviation pioneers and brewery magnates dominate this article about famous St. Louisans who shaped the city and are now buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in north St. Louis.

The aviators were Albert Bond Lambert and James McDonnell. Among the beer-making figures are the tragedy-ridden Lemp family and Joseph Griesedieck.

Samuel Hawken, whose rifle was the weapon-of-choice during western expansion, is also buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

If you'd be interested in the previous three articles about St. Louisans buried in Bellefontaine, you can go to Past Stories on the home page and click on to October, 2006; November, 2006, and December, 2006.

(To buy Mr. Amsler's book, visit a local bookstore or visit www.STL-Books.com.)

Albert Bond Lambert
(December 6, 1875-November 12, 1946)

Albert Lambert had a prominent business career in his father's drug business, Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. But, it wasn't long before his interest in aviation took over a big part of his life.

His interest began in Paris in 1906, when he met a number of international balloon pilots.

He held balloon license No. 18, dated in 1907. He sponsored a number of balloon races and air shows.

Lambert took his first airplane ride with Orville Wright. And he became the first St. Louisan to have a private pilot's license in 1911. His license number was 61.

In 1910, he organized a 10-day aviation meet. That's where Theodore Roosevelt because the first American president to fly in an airplane.

During World War I, Lambert trained military pilots. When he was discharged in 1919, he began working to transform a 550-acre cornfield in Bridgeton into an airfield. Called Kinloch Field, it was the predecessor of the current Lambert International Airport.

Lambert privately maintained the field until he sold it to the City of St. Louis in 1928.

Lambert was one of the financial backers of Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis.

He died in his sleep after working on Lambert Field expansion plans the night before.

James McDonnell Jr.
(April 9, 1899-August 22, 1980)

James McDonnell's aviation dreams resulted in the building of the largest company in St. Louis history. While a freshman at Princeton University, he took his first plane ride.

World War I broke out while he was still an undergraduate. He postponed his studies to join the army. After the war, he finished his education at Princeton and earned a master's degree from M.I.T. in physical mechanics of airplanes and flight.

He moved to St. Louis and set about forming his own aircraft manufacturing company. But, in his first year in business, the company had no sales or earnings its first year.

Then, came World War II. McDonnell Aircraft grew to employ 5,000 people. His first government contract was to build the FH-1 Phantom, the first carrier-based jet fighter.

In 1959, the company won a NASA contract to build the Mercury space capsule. That's the one that pilot John Glenn used to first orbit the earth.

In 1967, McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Company produced the DC-10 wide-body jet. At that time, McDonnell was chairman and chief executive office of the company.

The Lemp Family

The beer-making Lemp family had both business success and failure in St. Louis. Family members also had great personal tragedy, with four family members committing suicide.

Three of the deaths occurred at the Lemp family mansion. That led to rumors the home was haunted by ghosts of the family.

Johann Adam Lemp came to this country from Germany in 1838. His first business was a family grocery in downtown St. Louis. He quit the grocery business to establish the Western Brewery in 1840.

Adam Lemp died in 1862 and was the first family member buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.

His only son, William, took over the brewery. In 1864, the company built a new plant in south St. Louis. The plant was built over a maze of natural caves, which were used for natural refrigeration and for aging beer.

By 1875, the brewery was St. Louis' largest. The company name was changed to William J. Lemp Brewing Company in 1892. By the end of the century, the firm had 1,000 employees and produced 500,000 barrels of beer.

The decline of the brewery and the suicides began shortly after.

William Lemp killed himself in 1904.

Elsa Lemp, the youngest of William Sr.'s children, suffered bouts of depression. She shot herself in 1920.

The fate of the brewery company was sealed in January, 1920, with the beginning of Prohibition. The Lemp brewery was unsuccessful in efforts to make other products.

William Jr. blamed himself for the company's failure. He shot himself in 1922. His brother, Charles, killed himself in 1949.

The Spink Family

For over 100 years, the Spink family and baseball were linked together in St. Louis. And that link was The Sporting News. At one time, fans called it the "baseball bible."

Four members of the Spink family served as editor and publisher.

Al Spink, who helped establish the St. Louis Browns baseball team, began selling The Sporting News in 1886. It was then an 8-page paper that sold for five cents.

He sold his shares in the company to his brother, Charles. After Charles death in 1914, his son, John George Taylor Spink, ran the paper for 48 years. Taylor served as official scorekeeper for 11 World Series and helped uncover the "Black Sox" scandal.

Next, Taylor's son, C.C. Johnson Spink, took over the publication.

The Spink control of The Sporting News ended in 1977 when the Times-Mirror Co. bought the publication. But, to this day, The Sporting News continues to be headquartered in St. Louis.

Frederick Dent
(October 6, 1783-December 15, 1873)

Frederick Dent was a successful businessman. But, much of his fame came from being the father-in-law of General Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War hero and former U.S. president.

An interesting fact is that Dent wasn't in favor of his daughter, Julia, marrying Grant. But, later, he visited the White House often. He was there when he died.

Dent came to St. Louis from Maryland when he purchased the White Haven estate in southwest St. Louis. That property is now the site of the tourist favorite, Grant's Farm, as well as the Grant Historical Site.

In those pre-civil war days, many military men were friends but later fought on different sides in the Civil War. For instance, at Grant's wedding, one of the members of the wedding party was James Longstreet, later a famous general for the South.

Samuel Hawken
(October 26, 1792-May 9, 1884)

One of the most popular rifles during the days of Western Expansion of the country was invented and produced by St. Louisan Samuel Hawken.

The rifle was a favorite of such frontiersmen as Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill Cody.

A copy of his rifle is etched on his granite monument at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Joseph Griesedieck
(July 11, 1863-July 14, 1938)

Another of the famous early beer-makers of St. Louis was Joseph Griesedieck.

In St. Louis, he operated at various times the National Brewery, the Griesedieck Bros. Brewing Co., the Griesedieck Beverage Company and finally the Falstaff Brewing Co. The Falstaff trademark was purchased from fellow beer-maker William Lemp.

Griesedieck's business did survive Prohibition. During that alcohol-free period, his company processed ham and bacon. After Prohibition, he went back to beer making.

Places to Go, Things to Do

A premiere play, Eagle Days and more

The U.S. premiere of the play, "Hana's Suitcase," will be held in St. Louis in January as well as the viewing favorite, Eagle Days on the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

Another annual activity in January with special appeal for kids is the Minority Scientists Showcase at the St. Louis Science Center.

Read about these and more in this Places to Go; Things to Do feature.

(Each month, Young Saint Louis.com gathers news about events that are of special interest to kids and their families. Here are a sampling of events and activities that are going on in January.)

Metro Theater's "Hana's Suitcase"

The Metro Theater Company will stage the U. S. premiere of the play, "Hana's Suitcase," at the Edison Theater. Performances are Jan. 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21.

The play tells the story about a search for answers when a child's suitcase arrives from Germany at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center. The teacher of Japanese kids sets out on a world trip to find answers.

This is a story about tolerance and acceptance.

There are both matinee and evening performances.

For information visit www.metrotheatercompany.org or call (314) 935-6543.

Student tickets are $12. Adult tickets are $15 and for groups of 10 or more, $8 each.

Eagle Days in St. Louis

Eagle Days at the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River will be held Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 13 and 14. The bridge is open for watching from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Viewing scopes will be set up on the bridge to aid people in seeing the eagles. In addition, spectators can get an up-close-and-personal look at a bald eagle during educational programs. The shows will be held every 20 minutes from 10 a.m.-2:40 p.m.

The Chain of Rocks Bridge is an excellent viewing point because eagles like to nest in trees close to the bridge. They hunt for fish in the open water below the Corps of Engineers locks and dam at Alton.

An added attraction of Eagle Days is a nearby encampment of Lewis & Clark re-enactors. They have set up a camp reminiscent of the 1804-06 Corps of Discovery Exhibition.

There is free parking on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the bridge. However, parking at the bridge entrance on the Missouri side is $5.

For information, you can call Trailnet at (314) 416-9930, Ext. 111 or the Missouri Department of Conservation at (636) 441-4554, Ext. 235.

Minority Scientists' Showcase

The 15th annual Minority Scientist Showcase will be held Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Jan. 13, 14 and 15. The event is held at the St. Louis Science Center.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Monday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Schools will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day.

Scientists from major St. Louis companies and organizations are on hand to show science exhibits and give hands-on experience to kids.

The event is free.

For information, you can visit www.slsc.org.

A Maple Sugar: Tree Tapping

The Missouri Department of Conservation's Rockwoods Reservation will present a "Maple Sugar: Tree Tapping" program on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The event is 10-11:30 a.m.

The event is recommended for kids 10 and older.

By late January, the maple trees can sense the coming of spring and start to pump sap into the tree limbs to provide food for growth of new leaves. That's when humans intercept some of the sap to make delicious maple syrup.

This January exhibit is to show the techniques and equipment needed to tap into the trees. It's not to teach how to make maple syrup.

You can come back to Rockwoods in February for syrup-making demonstrations.

For information, call (636) 456-2236. For information on our MDC events in January, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/stlouis.

Hike West Tyson Park's Crescent Hills

One of the neat activities during January in St. Louis County Parks is hiking the "crescent hills" in West Tyson Park along the Meramec River. The 6-mile hike will be Saturday, Jan. 20. Hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

A park naturalist will lead the riverside hike. The fee is $3 per person.

Bring water and a snack. Advance registration is required. Call (636) 391-0922.

For other St. Louis County activities and programs, visit www.stlouisco.com.

How do bugs do that?

Lots of kids have a fascination about bugs. If you do, the Butterfly House in Faust Park has some neat information for you in January.

On Saturday, Jan. 3, a program called "Amazing Insect Feats" will explain how bugs can do things that look hard to us but are easy for them.

For instance, how is a fly able to walk upside-down on a ceiling? Or, how can a grasshopper climb a blade of grass?

For hours and to register, call (636) 530-0076, Ext. 13. For other programs at the Missouri Botanical Garden, visit www.mobot.org.

City Museum's Every Day Circus

If you like to go to the circus, you'll like the chance to go to a circus any day you want.

That's because City Museum in downtown St. Louis features EveryDayCircus every day.

The miniature circus features clowns, stilt walkers, jugglers, and magicians, performing parrots and dancing dogs.

The circus program is free with your admission to the City Museum. For details, call (314) 645-4445.

How does your garden grow-in the winter

Not too many people in St. Louis will ask how your garden is doing in the winter. But, kids in the YES-2-Tech program do.

That's because they actually have a garden growing in a geodesic dome greenhouse they built at the corner of Kingshighway and Manchester in St. Louis.

The YES in their title stands for Youth Exploring Science. It's a program sponsored by the St. Louis Science Center to acquaint urban kids with a variety of scientific subjects.

The geodesic dome and gardening project introduces them to computers, structures, plants, weather and technology.

Fourteen-year-old KiOntey Turner said she's particularly interested on building things. The Gateway Institute of Technology sophomore said, "Before I helped build a geodesic dome, I hadn't ever built anything."

She added, "I even learned how to use an electric drill."

Sixteen-year-old LaVelle Clark said he likes the idea of building structures and also learning about plants. "I want to be a construction worker when I get older," the Roosevelt High School sophomore said.

Kids in the YES-2 program come from throughout the St. Louis metro area. Many of them learned about the activity from family and friends while in middle school.

For instance, 16-year-old Natasha Rogers of Webster Groves is following two older sisters in the program. She said her sisters enjoyed the activity and "I wanted to be in the program too."

This year's dome garden program started last summer when the kids planned, designed and built their first geodesic dome. The first one was from a pre-cut "kit." Then, this fall, the kids also designed and built from scratch a smaller dome.

With both domes, the kids started the construction process with team-building meetings. These taught them how to work together on a single project.

Fifteen-year-old Bryan Owens lives in Castle Point in north St. Louis County. He said the smaller dome project started when the group was divided into four teams. After each team made its own design, the whole group got together for one overall design.

The North County Tech sophomore said the final design had ideas from all four teams.

A couple problems came up. For one, the first choice for fasteners to hold the triangular panels for the homemade geodesic dome weren't strong enough.

LaVelle Clark said they were testing various fasteners when the violent storms came last July. "We found those fasteners weren't strong enough," he said. The kids switched to a stronger metal fastener.

Another consideration was what sort of plastic to use to cover the dome structure.

Natasha Rogers said the plastic had to be thick enough to keep hail from breaking it. But, it also had to be light enough to let in enough sunlight so the plants could grow.

After the bigger dome was built, the kids had to outfit the inside to allow them to plant their garden. The original dirt on the dome location contained too much clay for a good garden. They settled on a raised-bed garden with dirt that was mostly compost material.

They also needed to use plant varieties that thrive in cool temperatures. The winter temperatures in the dome stay above freezing but are far from those of summer and fall.

The temperature inside the dome stays above freezing because of residual heat in the water in an 800-gallon tank and ground heat circulated by a solar-powered fan.

After researching plant varieties, they decided on cool-weather vegetables such as collard greens, broccoli and garlic.

They planted seeds in October and transplanted seedlings to the dome in mid-November.

The kids still need to prepare the soil inside their homemade dome. They don't have any temperature-modifying equipment in the smaller dome so that garden won't be planted until the spring.

Another part of the science of the dome garden is a study of weather. Now, the YES-2 website (www.yes2tech.com) includes a daily report from the local weather station atop the Taylor Community Science Resource Center.

The Taylor building is their YES-2 meeting place. (The website also includes more program information if you might be interested in applying.)

Natasha Rogers said the YES-2 program is making her rethink her career plans. Originally, she wanted to be a fashion designer. Now she's thinking of a science career.

"But, even if I go into fashion design, my work here with computers will help. Most fashion design work is done on computers now," she said.

What it takes to excel

Kid's tennis climb hasn't always been smooth

 

Kids plan health careers, attend two high schools

Yelena Canter and Jasmine Brown go to two high schools at the same time as they study to become registered nurses. And, they get expert medical information via video-conferencing to help them in their studies.

Yelena and Jasmine are among health career students who attend South County Tech in the mornings. Then, Yelena returns to her home school, Oakville High School, for afternoon academic classes.

Jasmine takes her afternoon classes at her home school, Mehlville High School.

Last semester, the girls had a one-hour anatomy and physiology class and a two-hour health sciences class in the mornings. Afternoon classes varied, depending on what classes the juniors were studying at their home schools.

Typical of the video-conferencing classes they watched last semester was one on organ donation and another on heart transplants. Those classes were produced by Saint Louis University's Adventures In Medical Science (AIMS) program.

Debbie Jones of Mid-America Transplant Services (MTS) was the expert used for the organ donation class. She's MTS' community educator and broadcast the class from the SLU campus.

MTS is one of the regional clearinghouses that monitor transplant needs and donor availability. It also transports the organs to the proper medical facility. MTS also arranges transfers tissue donations, such as eye corneas, tendons and ligaments.

The health career students received the organ donor information via closed circuit TV while sitting in South County Tech's Multi-Media and Conference Center. That's just down the hall from their regular classrooms.

Seventeen-year-old Yelena is a native of the Russian Far East who was adopted five years ago. She said she's interested in becoming a trauma nurse.

She also said she'll consider signing up to be an organ donor in case she suffered a fatal injury. "I'm not afraid of that," she said.

Sixteen-year-old Shellicia Bonds of St. Louis is in her second year in health studies at South County Tech. Her home school is Mehlville High School.

The junior said the videoconference information added to information from teachers in regular classes. "The video told me a lot about organ transplants," Shellicia said.

She wants to use her health information and skills next summer. She said one of her aunts works at an area nursing home and Shellicia hopes to be able to work there during summer vacation.

MTS educator Ms. Jones told the kids about the great demand for organ transplants. On the morning of the videoconference, she said there were 94,424 Americans on the national waiting list for donated organs. "Nearly 40% of them are waiting for kidneys," she said.

Ms. Jones also told of the "shelf-life" of the various organs that can be transplanted. "Shelf-life" is the time that doctors have between the removal of the organ and the time it must be transplanted into another human.

"A heart can be outside a body for only four hours," she said.

Ms. Jones said her "favorite organ" is the liver. That's because that "blood filter" organ can regenerate itself. For instance, it's possible to transplant a section of the liver and it will, in time, grow into a complete liver.

That's particularly important when an adult liver is to be transplanted into a child. There usually isn't room in a child for a whole adult liver. But, doctors can transplant the "tail" section of the liver. As the child grows, the "tail" regenerates itself into a whole liver.

Sixteen-year-old Minecia Davis said she likes the videoconferences because they get lots of new technical health information. "The videoconferences introduce new health material and help me understand the field better," she said.

The Kirkwood High School student said she likes the South County Tech classes because they provide a lot of hands-on experience. For instance, her health sciences classroom is equipped like a hospital ward.

So, when the students study hospital practices, they can practice techniques. Sometimes they use flexible plastic "patients" and sometimes a student acts as a real-life patient.

Administrators at South County Tech and the student's home school cooperate to make sure the two-school education satisfies graduation requirements for each student.

Jasmine Brown said, upon graduation, she will get gets a certificate as a Certified Nurse's Aide (CNA). That will allow her to work in a hospital and help pay for her nursing education. She wants to be a registered nurse.

(For more information about Mid-America Transplant Services, visit www.mts-stl.org.)

 

Wildwood Middle team picks
stock market winners

Four Wildwood Middle School kids admitted they knew nothing about investing when last fall's statewide Stock Market Game competition started. But, it turned out they did pick good stocks.

Drew Braet, Torie Goode, Nick Jacobs and Allie Truex are 8th graders in teacher Karen Schulz's accelerated Strechers class. They formed one of 10 four-member teams from Ms. Schultz's classes who competed in the investment competition.

When the game ended last month, Drew, Torie, Nick and Allie had the best investment gain of all teams in the St. Louis area. Each team got an imaginary $100,000 and tried to earn the most money over a 10-week period by investing in company stocks.

The Wildwood teams competed against hundreds of similar school teams in Missouri.

At the end of the contest period, the Wildwood team's stock portfolio was valued at $115, 382.39. That's a gain of over 15% in just 10 weeks.

By contrast, stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained value at less than 5.5%.

About his prior stock market knowledge, 14-year-old Drew Braet said, "Basically I didn't know anything about the market in the beginning." The other three concurred.

But, after finishing well, three of the four members said they plan to be stock market investors when they get older. The lone holdout was 13-year-old Allie Truex, who said, "It's too risky for me."

The kids invested their imaginary money in six stocks, Panera Bread, Underarmor, Apple Computer, Sears Holding, American Eagle, Yahoo and Boeing.

Their portfolio at the start of the competition included just three stocks: Panera, Underarmor and Apple. During the 10 weeks, they sold Panera and then added Sears, American Eagle, Yahoo and Boeing.

Significantly, most of their stocks were either of well-known companies or made products that the kids used. For instance, Underarmor and American Eagle are clothing companies that sell to young people.

Panera is the parent company of the St. Louis Bread Co. restaurants.

Thirteen-year-old Nick Jacobs said about 60% of the team's overall profit came in one stock, Underarmor. Nick was wearing Underarmor clothing during the interview for this article. " I also have American Eagle clothes," he said.

While Underarmor was the big winner for the team, the kids proudly pointed out that all of their stock picks ended up above their purchase price.

One thing that helped was the selling of Panera stock in the middle of the contest period.

Allie Truex said, "Torie saw something on the Internet that predicted that Panera's stock was going to take a dip. We sold the stock the next day, just before it did decline."

Torie said, "Some teams had Panera stock and didn't sell. They ended with a big loss."

Each kid on the winning team started out researching two or three stocks. The research included checking for current and past stock performance, analysts' predictions for the future and a study of what the company made or did.

Then, the whole team got together to make the final choices. They kept checking on their stocks each week. Their purchase of American Eagle stock was made in the last week of the game.

The American Eagle and Apple Computer purchases were timed closer to the holiday season. That's because the kids thought the company stock price would be helped by the volume of Christmas sales and by "buzz" from new product announcements.

For instance, Apple announced its new "mini-IPod" models late in 2006.

In some cases, the team didn't buy stock in a company even though one of the members had experience with the firm. For instance, Nick Jacobs said he'd made over 30 buys on Ebay including "a lot of baseball cards and an autograph by Albert Pujols."

But, after his research report on Ebay, the team decided not to buy that stock.

Torie Goode said her Wildwood Middle School team was ranked as high as 3rd in the state part way through the competition period. "We lost headway late in the game," she said. But the Wildwood team still was the best in the St. Louis area.

The top two teams in Missouri during the fall version of the Stock Market Game were from western Missouri. The overall winner was a team from Harrisonville High School with a final portfolio value of $132,367.92.

In 2nd place was a team from Smithton Middle School with a $128,611.29 value.

(For complete fall listings, visit www.umkc.edu/mcee.)

 

Robots help kids with career plans

Gateway Young Achievers 2006

Hamill shows business skills,
other accomplishments

(Last in a Series)

Fourteen-year-old Grant Hamill already has his own personal catering company, "Traveling Espresso." You might describe the firm as a "mobile Starbucks."

Grant started the company two years ago to provide special party refreshments for private parties. So far, his biggest job was a graduation party for 85 people.

In addition, Grant and his sister, 17-year-old Sarah, have another business operation. They provide babysitting services for a dozen or more Webster Grove-area families.

These early entrepreneurial efforts, together outstanding grades, volunteer service efforts and leadership skills, helped earn him 2006 Gateway Young Achiever of the Year status.

Last May, 12 St. Louis-area elementary, middle and high school students were given the Young Achiever designation. They were selected from hundreds of nominations to receive the award and a $1,000 savings bond.

(This is the 8th and final profile by Young Saint Louis.com of the elementary and middle school winners. If you'd like to read the previous profiles, click on Past Stories at the top of the home page and go to June, 2006; July, 2006, August, 2006; September, 2006; October, 2006; November, 2006, and December, 2006.)

Grant' award was based primarily on accomplishments when he was a student at Hixson Middle School in Webster Groves.

He is now a freshman at Webster Groves High School. He's continuing many of the efforts that earned him the Young Achiever status.

Grant has been in a gifted academic program since he was in 3rd grade. As an 8th grader, he attended an Honors Geometry class at Webster Groves High. This year, his gifted classes are in English and social studies.

The social studies class includes a variety of research subjects. His first was a report on the current geo-political situation in Europe.

His latest was a little more exotic. He did a report on foods in Thailand. That included creating a meal featuring "pad-thai." That's a spicy dish of rice noodles, vegetables and meat (either chicken, beef or shrimp).

His Young Achiever's nomination also noted a variety of volunteer efforts. Many involved his church, Webster Groves Presbyterian. He did regular mission work for such programs at Room at the Inn, Webster-Rock Hill Ministries and Habitat for Humanity.

The Room at the Inn program had him helping to prepare a meal for homeless people who are given over-night accommodations at his church. Grant and his family ate with the homeless families and then cleaned up afterwards.

A new volunteer activity is one-on-one tutoring in the William Yandell Tutoring Program. Grant helps a 5th grader with his homework once a week for 1½ hours.

He's already signed up for a weeklong church mission trip next June to Washington, D.C. There, he'll work on a variety of cleanup and repair projects in low-income areas.

Grant combines his interest in running with charity work. For instance, he placed 3rd in a 5K Jingle Bell Run this fall to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. He also placed 2nd in a 4-mile Run for Webster to benefit Edgewood Children's Center and the Webster High School Foundation.

"I like to take part in a variety of runs in the 5-kilometer (3.2-mile) range," he said.

He's completed the fall junior varsity soccer season and will participate in the high school tennis program in the spring.

One unique program from middle school was Destination Imagination. That involves kids in brainstorming solutions to a variety of unusual problems. The teams get no advance warning about what the problems might be.

For instance, in one national tournament, Grant's team was put in Venice, Italy, and told to come up with a unique solution involving a gondola in the city's canals.

Grant said, "We decided to look at the canals from the perspective of a fish. We painted the gondola blue and yellow and then showed that the fish would see the color as green." (In art, you can mix blue and yellow paints to achieve green.)

He also plans to expand "Traveling Espresso" company in the coming years. "I want to keep that company going through high school. I don't know about the college years yet. You're pretty busy in college," he said.

He's created a new promotional flyer and circulating them to prospective clients. The flyer says, in part: "Brrr…it's getting cold outside. Warm up with some 'Traveling Espresso.' Wouldn't it be fun to have lattes, espressos and mocha at your next gathering."

He promises to use only the best ingredients, such as Starbucks coffee, Ghirardelli chocolate and Oberweis milk.

Two years ago, he raised seed money from investors to buy equipment. "I paid back the investors the first year so everything is free and clear now," he said.

He catered a party in mid-December to keep his entrepreneurial dream alive.

(If you'd like to know more about the Gateway Young Achievers program, visit www.YoungAchievers.us. The deadline for 2007 nominations is January 31, 2007)