Students at the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics have a diverse range of nearly 30 student-led groups on campus, offering students opportunities to connect, engage and grow in their personal and professional interests.
Shane Gremo, Class of 2024 finance and management information systems double major, is the president of the Blue Hen Investment Club at the Lerner College. Gremo shared why he joined the Blue Hen Investment Club, what makes this group stand out and how to join!
Lerner: When and why did you choose to join this student group?
Gremo: I joined the club in the spring semester of my freshman year. I joined because of my passion to learn more about the stock market and investing.
Lerner: When and where does your student group meet and approximately how many members do you have?
Gremo: Our club meets every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in the Geltzeiler Trading Lab within Purnell Hall. Currently we have about 50 members including our executive board.
Lerner: What is the mission/goal of your student group?
Gremo: The mission of the Blue Hen Investment Club is to provide a valuable educational experience to its members by allowing them to manage a real dollar investment portfolio. Through rigorous training and hands-on experience, members learn about the most important aspects of finance and investing while developing strong teamwork, public speaking, and analytical skills. This experience is facilitated through the fund’s weekly meetings, sector meetings, trainings, workshops, and guest speakers.
Lerner: What is your best memory or proudest moment from this student group?
Gremo: My proudest moment in this organization was when I was elected President last year. It has been my goal to lead this organization as soon as I joined, and I hope to continue to lead it in a positive direction, just as the previous executive boards have done. This organization has provided me with many outstanding opportunities and has prepared me for a career on Wall Street, and now I believe it is time for me to give back as much as possible in this position.
Lerner: What is unique about your student group?
Gremo: The club manages roughly $4.1 million of the University’s endowment and has outperformed the S&P 500 the past five consecutive years.
Lerner: What are your goals for the future of your student group?
Gremo: The organization hopes to continue to provide exceptional finance education while providing members with an opportunity to have hands-on experience managing a real-money portfolio. We also hope to continue to build relationships and job opportunity pipelines to help our members land top finance-related jobs across the country.
Lerner: How has your student group helped you grow, personally or professionally?
Gremo: The club has helped me learn and develop my finance-related skills such as equity research, valuation, and allocation strategy. All of these skills are usually taught in the 400-level finance classes at the University, and I was able to learn the material as a freshman in the club. Because of this accelerated learning opportunity the club provided, I was able to secure a competitive investment banking analyst position in NYC for this summer. In addition, the club provided me with an immense amount of leadership opportunities and positions.
Lerner: Is there any additional information regarding your student group that you believe has not been covered?
Gremo: Upon joining the club, each member is placed into a specific market sector to hopefully become an industry expert. Sectors range from technology, healthcare, energy and more. Each market sector operates differently with different defining factors for the companies within, so we believe specializing provides higher levels of understanding and mastery.