Diablo Valley College’s Investment Club provides a focused learning environment for students looking to prepare for their financial futures.

President and founder Adrian Grobelny, 18, said “I wanted to start this club to really focus on investment and teach kids critical skills, how to make smart investments.”

Grobelny has always been interested in news but got into investment in high school and pursued it from there. For four years, he attended Young Entrepreneurs at Haas, a University of California Berkeley business program designed for high schoolers, where he was able to make and maintain connections with business graduate students.

“A big part of it is being supportive and teaching each other stuff that you know about investment and just learning from each other,” Grobelny said.

“We’re going to bring in speakers, like investment bankers, day traders, people who have a lot of experience with investment, so they can share the knowledge that we don’t have,” Grobelny said.

Fernando Reyes, 23, enjoys having guest speakers that are unique to this club, “because there are a lot of other clubs who have guest speakers who are not as distinguished or personable.”

At their Nov. 11 meeting, members heard from professor Kevin Bowman on economic growth and stock.

The group also participated in stock pitches, where members look at current news and reports from a company and briefly present to the group why they should or should not invest in that company. The group seeks to use these practical activities to help students succeed.

“We want to help students create their own portfolio,” Grobelny said. The club will run simulations so that members can become familiar with the process of trading in the stock market and offer help.

“I really like this club because it focuses on something more specific,” said 18-year-old business and economics major Shireen Aboukhalil. “And personally, I want to learn more about investments because that is something that I’m interested in.”

The specificity and educational focus is what makes the group really unique.

“I hope to walk away with a better understanding of financial markets and apply it toward my professional and personal development,” Reyes said.

This club is open to any DVC student and Reyes says it’s for, “anyone who wants to further their understanding as well as have a leg up on the competition when they transfer.”

The group will meet on most Tuesdays from 4-5:30 p.m. Up-to-date information can be found on the group’s Facebook page.