Finance professor Mary S. Daughtery supports students in a class called the Aristotle Fund, a student-managed investment fund that provides students with the opportunity to steward $10 million of the University of St. Thomas’ endowment.

The class began in 1999 as a master’s program started by Gerry Rauenhorst, a graduate of St. Thomas. In the past couple of years, it has been offered to undergraduate students. One year, the class was only undergraduate students, as students are selected from those who are most interested, rather than their age.

Daughtery called the fund “a little gem that no one knows about.”

The name comes from Aristotle’s view of “learn by doing,” which is reflected through the class. Daughtery said students know if they did well or if they did not based on the stock market.

Sam Dufault, an undergraduate senior in the class this semester, said all the decisions are completely made by the students, and Daughtery gives support when it is needed.

“Professor Daugherty is like the bumpers on a bowling alley lane,” Dufault said. “She gives you the freedom to where you can bowl on your own, but if you get off the track, she is there so you don’t get a gutterball.”

This year, the class consists of 14 graduate and undergraduate students who meet once a week on Tuesdays. Each student is partnered with an industry mentor, and every week a mentor comes in to listen to pitches and gives their professional feedback and critiques to support the students.

“The initial immersion for students is quite shocking because they walk into a live portfolio with real money risk on the line,” Roger Norberg, director of equity research and mentor of the Aristotle Fund, said.

One of Norberg’s favorite things is “seeing how the quality of work and discussion evolves over time.”

Daughtery encourages students majoring in finance to enroll in this class to get exposure to the industry with real-life learning opportunities.

“I don’t think that it gets the clout that my students deserve for how much work they do and their exposure to the industry and how well they represent the student body,” Daugherty said.

Madeline Mussay can be reached at muss3440@stthomas.edu.