NORTH MANKATO — Need stock advice? Grab a pencil.

William Cipos said he’s looking at companies whose products are indispensable in a down economy. In the last few weeks, he’s picked up McDonald’s and Auto Zone: “People aren’t buying new cars; they’re buying parts for the old ones.”

Ella Barnes, who is hedging her losses in light of the plummeting Dow Jones Industrial Average with specialty retail stocks like Aeropostale and Family Dollar, said: “Keep it minimal. Find some stocks you really like.”

But fellow trader Matt Meyers iterated a conservative approach in the face of a stock market that has lost more than 20 percent of its value since Jan. 1: “Don’t just jump on the stocks that are doing well.”

While these market experts are just sixth-graders at Garfield Elementary, they are fast learners in a real-world market simulation called (appropriately enough) the Stock Market Game.

The program is designed by BestPrep, an organization devoted to “bridging business and education resources to provide students with the best preparation for success in life and work.” In Mankato Area Public Schools, the competition is coordinated and promoted through the South Central Service Cooperative.

Bridget Serig, SCSC director of academic programs, said several schools in the district participate in the program. Most students meet in teams once or twice a week during the school day to compete against other students in the state to amass the most valuable stock portfolio.

Students buy and sell, research and analyze. Many of them are cracking the business section of the newspaper for the first time. Student Dan Kiecker’s earnest approach to the game even convinced his mom to consider allowing him to invest a small sum of the family’s money in stocks of his choosing.

In general, Serig said there’s more interest in the game than ever.

“In the past two months, I’ve received more phone calls than I have in all the time I’ve done this,” Serig said. “It’s the economy.”

And in this economy, Garfield students are faring about as well as the Wall Street professionals.

All teams in the game begin with $100,000. Ella Barnes and her teammates are among the most successful teams in the school with a portfolio that is worth about $52,000 — at least near the closing bell on Tuesday. Teammates Jessica Radzak and Olivia Kagermeier said they use Google to research all the stocks they buy and they view their stocks’ performances regularly.

Another Garfield team, the Twitchy Rainbows, have not fared as well. So named because a rainbow’s shape mimics the pattern their stock prices have followed, the Twitchy Rainbows were once ranked as high as 23rd in the state (out of more than 400 teams) but are now mired somewhere in the 300s.

The team discussed a turn-around strategy based on speculation that seed companies will fare well in bad economies. The decision came down to purchasing stock in one of two giant agricultural conglomerates: Archer Daniels Midland or Con-Agra.

After some discussion, they chose Archer Daniels Midland.

While Twitchy Rainbows team member Maddie Maruska said she enjoys playing the game and speculating on stocks, she’s not immune to its swings.

“It’s frustrating, too,” she said. “You want your stocks to go up, but they don’t.”