The Economics Challenge Club at Bridgewater-Raritan High School held its first meeting on December 5.
Students in attendance were provided with information about the National Economics Challenge, the most prestigious economics competition in the nation, and the main focus of the club.
The National Economics Challenge is organized by the Council for Economic Education (CEE), a large-scale non-profit organization that aims to spread knowledge regarding financial literacy. The CEE has been functioning for 75 years, helping over five million students annually. In 1949, CEE was founded as the Joint Council for Economic Education, which aimed to integrate economics with the standard school curriculum across the United States.
The first National Economics Challenge was in the year 2000, continuing up until today with over 8,000 participants each year. The challenge has two main divisions: the David Ricardo Division and the Adam Smith Division.
The David Ricardo Division, named after the British economist, requires participants to have taken no more than one economics course in school, and to have not taken the National Economics Challenge previously. The Adam Smith Division, named after the Scottish economist, is for advanced students and returning competitors with more experience in economics.
In each division, teams of no more than four students compete to win within their state. The highest-scoring teams for both divisions within each state move on to the National Semifinals. The top four teams in each division in the National Semi-Finals move on to the National Finals, including an all-expenses paid trip to the location of the Finals. From here, the winning teams earn cash prizes for their efforts, with $1,000 to first place, $500 to second, $250 to third and $200 to fourth place.
The National Economics Challenge focuses on the knowledge of the world’s economy, with topics such as supply and demand, the business cycle, and more. Lots of study materials, including previous years’ competitions, practice quizzes, and more, can be found on the CEE’s website.
Students who study for this competition will learn skills that will help them throughout their high school journey, in classes including AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. Similarly, participants who have completed these classes will have already obtained valuable knowledge about the topics tested, setting them up for success.
The Economics Challenge club at Bridgewater-Raritan High School will meet around twice a month to help participants prepare, including study materials and practice quizzes. Meetings will take place in the Library Classroom A/B at around 10:30 a.m., halfway through Unit Lunch. For more information, join the club using the Google Classroom code: “ssovhcy”.
