IU South Bend’s student-run Investment Club recently donated $4,000 to La Casa de Amistad, a nonprofit organization that helps empower the Latino community in Michiana. Their donation came from profit the students made from smart investments.
On September 17th, Sam Centellas, director of La Casa De Amistad and member of the IU South Bend Advisory Board, came to campus to accept the check. Club President J.D. DeSouza handed Centellas the check and Chancellor Susan Elrod attended to congratulate the students.
The club started in 2019. Our main goal is to teach wealth empowerment to young people, said DeSouza. The club wasn’t started by business students but by arts majors. DeSouza himself is a senior fine arts major set to graduate this year.
Mark Bradford, one of the club’s faculty advisors and a retired professor of business, gave his own seed money for the students to invest, but doesn’t offer direction. They tell me what to buy or sell and they are incredibly successful at it, said Bradford.
Sean Hottois, associate professor of new media at the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, serves as club sponsor. Bradford and members of the club all are appreciative of the work Hottois does to build structure for the club. He deserves a lot of credit for everything, Bradford said.
Whatever money earned goes to the charity of the club’s choosing. When the club started, we knew no matter how successful we were we wanted to donate local, said DeSouza. The Investment Club wanted to be able to give back to the community and help through these difficult times.
Ben Zayn, a business major, joined the club because he wanted to learn how to invest with his own money after college. The club helped him to gain that experience. Emmanuel Aguilar, an informatics major, is minoring in business and said he enjoyed learning how to invest. Lorenzo Martinez, the vice president of the club, shared that he appreciates how the club was able to persevere through the pandemic, making adjustments for meeting, researching, and deciding where to invest. Through it all, they were able to make a donation that will have a great impact.
