♪ [music playing--
no dialogue] ♪♪.
(Jennifer).
And our good news tonight.
Professors at Eastern Illinois
University have a new tool
to help students succeed
in the business world.
Today, EIU held a grand
opening for its new
Security Analysis Center.
WCIA3 Alexandra Harold
joins us with more
on the student investment.
Alexandra.
(Alexandra Harold).
Well the center is a lot
like what you would see at
the New York Stock Exchange.
Students monitor the financial
markets and even manage
a real porfolio.
Eastern Illinois University
in Charleston is a far cry
from Wall Street but
inside this building,
educators manage to
bring the excitement
of the trading floor
into the classroom.
(Tom McDaniel).
They wanted it to be just like
if they were in a Meryll Lynch
or some other trading company,
this is the
environment they'd be in.
(Alexandra Harold).
The environment is a
state-of-the-art
securities analysis center.
Computers, a ticker stripe
and ticker board all show news
and financial
information in real time.
It's the student's job to
figure out what it all means.
(James Jordan-Wagner).
The other day when the Fed
made their interest
rate announcement,
all that's reflected
immediately in the markets
and we're in here and it's
happening while we're in class
so it's just an
excellent learning tool.
(Alexandra Harold).
Students have a $100,000
portfolio to manage for
the EIU Foundation.
They are held to the same
standards as other fund managers
and are graded in part
on their performance.
Senior Jonathan Hoffee already
has a job lined up in Chicago.
He's thankful for the
real-world experience now.
(Jonathan Hoffee).
This is an awesome way
of just personal finance,
figuring out what to look for
in the environment and
enhancing your own net worth.
(Alexandra Harold).
The School of Business
Advisory Board held a fundraiser
to help pay for the center.
It's located in the
EIU's Lumpkin College
of Business building.
Dave and Jennifer.
(Dave). 
Nothing like hand-on experience.
(Jennifer).
Yeah they could teach us
a thing or two.
(Dave).
Oh yeah, you bet.
