Following the completion of the Applied Finance Lab and the initiation of the Student-Managed Fund, a group of students will re-introduce the Villanova Equity Society. The group will hold its first meeting for all interested students next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Bartley 1011.The Equity Society aims to give students of all majors the opportunity to manage a real portfolio of equity securities, according to co-presidents and seniors Jackie LePore and John DellaNoce. Members of the Equity Society will conduct security and industry analyses and participate in trading simulations in the Applied Finance Lab.”We want to get students thinking about how to invest by getting them excited and interested in the capital markets,” DellaNoce said. In its first semester, the organization will work with the Student-Managed Fund by analyzing stocks of companies within certain industries. The SMF will use the research of the Equity Society when making investment decisions for its portfolio. The Society will also participate in the Barron’s Challenge, a hypothetical stock simulation with cash prizes, where the organization will compete with other universities across the country. By the spring 2006 semester, the Equity Society intends to manage a real portfolio similar to the one managed by the SMF. “By getting younger students involved in the process, students will have a chance to make an impact and learn in a real world environment,” said LePore. Both co-presidents said that they are actively seeking to attract members of all colleges of the University. “On Wall Street, firms are hiring more and more engineers, political science majors and history majors,” said DellaNoce. “They look for people who can think and analyze information from different perspectives. We are letting students of other colleges know what else is out there for them.” Professor James Jablonski and Dr. David Nawrocki, both members of the finance department, will serve as faculty advisors to the group.