The Economics Club was formed on campus recently to unite students who love economics as well as to help students prepare for the Economics Challenge, senior Rithika Srinivasan, a member of the Club, said.  

In the Economics Challenge, commonly known as EconChallenge, teams from across the state and country compete to become nationally recognized.

The categories that the team must be knowledgeable in include micro-economics (business and personal decisions), macroeconomics (how countries make decisions on a nationwide level) and current international relations, Srinivasan said.  

In order to compete at a higher level, teams must first take an online qualifying exam.  The top five teams from each region then move on to state championships. From there, teams progress to competing at national level, Srinivasan said.

During these competitions, teams are tested on their knowledge in a variety of ways; this includes a quiz bowl round and multiple online tests.

In 2017, two teams from HHS (“Geekonomics” and “Spice and Rice”) attended the EconChallenge, and both ended up placing at both state and national level.

This year, two students from each previous team, Srinivasan and senior Rebecca Zhu, are joining to form one of the 2018 teams.

The team spends multiple months ensuring they will be well prepared for the various tests given to them, Srinivasan said.

“Our team uses the Barron’s book and this website called ACEC Economics … they have a lot of really good graphs and equations and just really good information,” Zhu said regarding their preparations for EconChallenge.

This year the team would like to improve their overall communication compared to last year, Srinivasan and Zhu said, good communication is vital for performance as a team.

If one is interested in economics, the EconChallenge is a great opportunity for anyone to join in and have fun while learning about the subject, Srinivasan said.