A.P. team moves to next level

Students recognized at state Econ Challenge

 

By Jessica Albert
April 25, 2008

 

Select students from A.P. economics classes won first in state in the Econ Challenge competition April 11 in Richmond, Va., taking first in state for the A.P. division and second in the regular economics division.

 

“The Econ Challenge is like ‘It’s Academic’ but only with economics questions,” economics teacher and Econ Challenge sponsor Joseph Clement said.

 

The A.P. team, including seniors Sam Perkins, Pat Barry, Vicky Chung and junior Sarah Germain are in the team that won first in state at the competition. The regular class team also did well, taking second in state. 

 

With their wins, the team will advance onto the regional competition, which is online. 

 

The Econ Challenge team won in the 2006 regionals and placed second in the national competition.

 

The teams for the Econ Challenge were split into two divisions, A.P. and regular. Two A.P. class teams and one regular class team qualified for the state-level competition.

 

In competition, the teams first take 30-question, multiple-choice practice tests and the top two teams qualify for the buzzer round. If the team wins in the buzzer round, then they qualify to go to the regional competition.

 

During after-school practices, the Econ Challenge team practiced the buzzer round and multiple-choice questions. The primary goal of the after school practices was to prepare them for what actual competition would be like.

 

“We do some practice tests from past years,” junior Sarah Germain said. “We ask general economics questions from our book. We practice the buzzer round; Mr. Clement is just asking us questions, and we just try to buzz in as close as we can. We’re simulating the real thing as best as we can.”

 

Another competition for economics is called the Fed Challenge. The Fed Challenge team is made up of different group students, different from the Econ Challenge team. The Fed Challenge is a different competition held in Baltimore, Md. A team of six presents a hypothetical Federal Reserve presentation for a group of judges. The team must be prepared to answer any questions the judges have.

 

The participants said they think that this year is going to be a lot harder than previous years.

 

“The Fed has been doing all of these crazy things they’ve never done before, so this is the hardest year ever,” senior Rachel Cantor said.

 

Last year, the Fed Challenge team took second in Baltimore; this year, although they did not place, the team still thinks they did well.

 

The team members are able to have fun participating in this academic event.

 

“We end up getting pretty nerdy about [the competition] we have to read stuff every day,” said senior Paola Suarez, who participated in Fed Challenge and was the top individual scorer in the Adam Smith division of the Econ Challenge. “It’s fun. Mr. Clement makes it fun.”

 

The Econ Challenge team hopes to continue their success and advance further to the national competition in New York City.

 

State champions
On April 11, the following students were recognized in Richmond, Va. for their understanding of economic concepts:

 

Seniors Pat Berry, Vicky Chung and Sam Perkins and junior Sarah Germain won first place in the A.P. division of the state Economics Challenge. They will compete in regionals April 29 online which, if they win, will qualify the team for nationals in May.

 

Seniors Alexa Charlip, Jenae Landrith and Stephanie Newhall and junior Marisa Reed won second place in the non-A.P. division.

 

Senior Paola Suarez, on the second A.P. team, received the highest individual score in the state.