News Release
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory High School Students Win State 'Fed Challenge' Competition
A team of students from Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory in Indianapolis today won a state-wide competition testing their knowledge of how the Federal Reserve creates policy to foster a strong and stable economy.
The competition, called the "Fed Challenge," was held at the Purdue University Conference Center in West Lafayette and included teams from three other Indiana high schools.
Winning team members Chris Lambie-Hanson, John Leer, Alex Torgerson, Tom Witczak and Natasha Yurk beat teams from Hamilton Southeastern in Fishers, St. Joseph's High School in South Bend, and Zionsville High School. The Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory coach is Greg VanSlambrook.
The Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory team will now represent Indiana in the District Fed Challenge championship on April 15, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The team will compete against teams from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin for the opportunity to represent the Chicago Federal Reserve District in the National Fed Challenge competition, which will be held May 14-16 at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C.
Each team is comprised of five or six students. They use their research of existing economic, financial and international conditions to prepare a forecast of the economy to identify potential concerns, and to make recommendations for national monetary policy.
During the competition, the team gives a 15-minute presentation to a panel of judges consisting of economists from the Federal Reserve, the private sector and academia. The judges then question the students about how the Fed creates policy to foster a strong and stable economy.
The competition:
- Provides education on how Federal Reserve policy-makers develop and implement monetary policy that influences the amount of credit and money in the economy.
- Teaches students to conduct economic research, think critically, and make presentations.
- Promotes economics and finance as a career choice.
Preparing for the competition gives students an idea of how economists get ready for a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve group that creates national monetary policy under the guidance of Chairman Alan Greenspan.
