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Lafayette’s Fed Challenge team was named the national champion in 2009 and runner up in 2010.
Lafayette will host a high school Fed Challenge invitational tournament 1-5 p.m. Thursday, March 17, in Pfenning Alumni Center.
According to organizer James DeVault, associate professor of economics, the tournament is designed to prepare the competitors for the regional high school tournament sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in New York City March 31. Participating teams will be from Indian Hills High School, Montclair High School, Mount Saint Mary Academy, Oratory Preparatory School, Rumson-Fair Haven High School, and West Windsor High School, all in New Jersey.
In competitions, teams play the role of members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policymaking body. Teams give a 20-minute presentation on monetary policy and then defend their position during a 15-minute round of intensive questioning by the judges. The teams are judged on content, teamwork, responses to questions, presentation, and style.
Lafayette’s Fed Challenge team has been very successful on the college level. In 2009, Lafayette was named the national champion, and in 2010 the team placed second in the nation.
Nicholas Stacey ’11 (Mbabane, Swaziland) will serve as one of the judges for the high school competition. A math and economics double major, Stacey was a member of the College’s 2009 and 2010 teams.
“The fact that we are hosting the competition is indicative of Lafayette’s focus on promoting academic excellence not just in the classroom but outside it as well,” says DeVault, who is also the College team’s adviser. “From my own perspective, I find the Fed Challenge competition to be extremely valuable in helping students understand macroeconomic theory as well as the nature and implications of monetary policy. It also promotes team work, communication, and presentation or rhetorical skills.”