York Euro Challenge Team Heads To Nationals

ELMHURST, IL — York High School’s Euro Challenge team recently competed in and emerged on top in the Midwest Region Euro Challenge competition, beating out eight other teams representing Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. Illinois teams included Walter Payton College Prep, Bunker Hill High School, Naperville Central High School, Marian Catholic High School and Mundelein High School.

The school said the Midwest Region Euro Challenge competition was hosted by the European Union Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and W!se. Participating students must be in either 9th or 10th grade. York’s 2016 Euro Challenge Team also took first place in the Midwest Region under the guidance of Coach Tamra Carl.

The first-place York team is comprised of seven sophomores: Samantha Cruz, Emily Dow, Brian Kelley, Matt Kentra, Emmet McGovern, Ally Splitstone and Matt Splitstone. The school said the team was presented with the challenge of choosing a country in the European Union, a problem the country has, and a solution to the problem. They chose to tackle Italy's high unemployment rate using monetary policy. A team of five students gave a 15-minute presentation in front of a panel of judges from Illinois universities and banking industries.

According to Carl, who is a York Social Studies teacher, “Every member of the team played an important part in the presentation, as they explained the challenges of Italy, the EU and the Euro."

“At the competition, we realized there were multiple schools that had chosen Italy as their country. The York team’s preparation and ability to confidently answer the follow-up questions made them stand above the other teams. The team had spent the last week researching and anticipating different questions to prepare them for the tough Q & A round. The students provided insight and analysis to a problem that economists and leaders from the Euro area are currently trying to solve,” she said in a release.

The final round of competition takes place on April 26 at the New York Federal Reserve in New York City. There are 12 regions across the country, with a total of 24 teams competing. The school said the students will again be required to give a 15-minute presentation and participate in a 10-minute Q & A follow-up.

The Euro Challenge is a program of the Delegation of the European Union in Washington, D.C. The Delegation supports this innovative academic competition to encourage American students to learn more about the European Union and its single currency, the Euro (€).

Photo provided by District 205.