Mamaroneck High School Students Compete in Economics Contest

Five Mamaroneck High School students have been named a semifinalist in the High School Fed Challenge, an economics contest hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the school announced.

The students, Noah Putnam, Sam Wertheim, Josh Girsky, Sophie Despins and Andrew Sommer, recently “presented their views on the current state of the economy, future expectations and interest rate guidance.” They were selected from more than 100 high school teams from around the Tri-State area in the competition.

A total of 20 teams were selected to be semifinalists, who will compete again on April 16.

From a press release about the honor:

Using the format of a newspaper editorial board meeting for their presentation, team members aimed to justify keeping interest rates where they currently are and answered questions from Fed officials. They will compete in the semifinal round of the competition (again at the Federal Reserve Bank in NYC) on April 16, the same day 5 or 6 teams will be chosen to advance and compete in the finals.

Adam Sobel, who teachers MHS’s AP Macroeconomics program (one of the largest in the State) has had teams advancing to the semifinals numerous times and twice has led teams to the finals. “Unlike most schools, that have a Fed Challenge club, our students do this as part of the AP Macroeconomics curriculum. Instead of years of practice, our teams are only together for 10 weeks before they compete. We use the challenge as a learning tool for all of our students rather than just focusing on the competition itself,” Mr. Sobel said. “That makes our success even more special. I believe our kids have a better understanding of the whole economy, not just what they learned in putting together their presentation.”

Sobel had 15 teams in his AP class that researched and prepared an in-class presentation, followed by a Q&A session. The best team was then selected to compete in the Fed Challenge.

The MHS student team has been preparing endlessly for the April 16th presentation, which will be include the following:

• an analysis of economic and financial conditions (as of the day of the presentation),
• a near-term forecast of economic, financial and international conditions of critical importance in the development of monetary policy (for example, unemployment, inflation, output),
• identification of risks to the economy that should be of special concern for monetary policymakers, and
• a recommendation to increase, decrease or leave unchanged the level of short-term interest rates.

The Fed Challenge is closely aligned with the Federal Reserve Bank’s goals of increasing understanding of the Reserve’s role in setting U.S. monetary policy; developing students’ research, cooperation, presentation and critical thinking skills; promoting interest in economics, not only as a subject for undergraduate and postgraduate study, but as the basis for a career, and fostering a closer relationship between schools and the New York Fed.

Photo: Noah Putnam, Sam Wertheim, Josh Girsky, Sophie Despins and Andrew Sommer. Photo credit: Mamaroneck School District

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