From cabbage to capital; how a student’s prize money sparked a passion for investing

Slang terms for money include, “bread,” “dough” and “lettuce.”

Junior business major Catherine Hubinger prefers “cabbage,” because as a fourth grader participating in a school project in Eagle, she grew one.

It was huge.

I learned so much from those programs. They have taught me how to watch markets and see how the market influences the stock markets and how the economy is affected by it. 

— Catherine Hubinger, finance and accounting junior

So big, in fact, that the vegetable she planted from seed in her mom’s garden earned her a $1,000 prize, a front-page newspaper picture and a state award.

That’s a lot of “cabbage” for a 9-year-old, Hubinger said.

With the help of her parents, she invested the money, and her passion for growing green stuff was born.

As a finance and accounting major in the College of Business and Economics, Hubinger augmented what she already knew about growing greenbacks at the College of Business and Economics’ Barker Capital Management and Trading Program, as well as the college’s Davis Investment Group.

These experiences landed her an opportunity as U of I’s representative for Girls Who Invest, an international program that teaches corporate finance to young women. Last summer, as part of the program’s requirements, Hubinger attended a summer intensive at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“The program’s goals include reaching a point where women make up 30% of the workforce in the investment industry, from the 10% it is right now,” Hubinger said. “It really provides student participants with a strong background across various sectors of the financial industry.”

The international program is very competitive, Hubinger said. She is the first girl in Idaho to be accepted into Girls Who Invest and is U of I’s student ambassador.

“I have recruited other girls and encouraged them to apply to the program,” she said.

Her experience with Girls Who Invest, as well as the two additional U of I investment programs, have given Hubinger a wealth of financial know-how, both in corporate and personal investing that she hopes to turn into a career when she graduates Spring ’26.

“Ever since I first invested the money from winning the cabbage project, and later, taking a high school trading simulation course, I have loved to watch the markets move and investments grow,” she said. “I find it fascinating.”

Hubinger said attending U of I was a no-brainer decision after visiting the campus her junior year in high school.

“Our tour guide talked a lot about the Barker program,” she said. “To see that U of I had a trading program and such a gorgeous campus, I was like ‘I need to go here.’ It was a very easy choice.”

Business Professor Duff Berquist, Barker’s program director, who joined U of I in 2023 was acquainted with Girls Who Invest and realized there was a dearth of student ambassadors from Idaho.

“Catherine seemed like a great candidate. She was knowledgeable from having taken advantage of the Barker and Davis investment groups and was on track to do something bigger,” Berquist said. “It’s a very competitive program. You attend the Wharton School, one of the top business and finance schools in the world, and she came through it with flying colors. She is the only student ambassador in Idaho.”

Hubinger, a member of Delta Gamma who this semester joined the Barker Trading Club — new this year — said although investing money and keeping up with business trends that affect investments has been the benchmark of her college experience, both the college’s Barker and Davis programs have developed in her a greater appreciation and new maturity in analyzing markets and the growth potential of stocks.

“I learned so much from those programs. They have taught me how to watch the news and economic events, and how it relays to market movements,” she said.

Like watching a state winning cabbage grown from a small seed, Hubinger has not lost her enthusiasm for growth potential.

“I have worked with large portfolios from the college to the corporate and this summer I did equity research, mainly building financial models and updating them as earnings come out, along with researching current and potential investments for the company,” she said. “It’s fun to be contributing to a firm and working on funds which are managing money for all sorts of customers and companies, everything from Morningstar to public pensions. I found it both fascinating and fulfilling.”

Article by Ralph Bartholdt, University Communications.

Photos by Garrett Britton, University Visual Productions.

Published in October 2024.