Following the first-ever Harker triumph at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge (HPEC) over the weekend, Harker Eaglenomics students scored another win on Monday.
Last weekend, for the first time in Harker history, our team of Raymond Xu, grade 11; Rahul Shukla, grade 11; Ameek Singh, grade 12; and Jonathan Ma, grade 12, won the HPEC championship.
Then hot on the heels of that victory, Harker competed and took top honors in the state finals of the National Economics Challenge on Monday.
That contest took place at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Harker had three of the top five qualifying teams from the Northern California region (San Luis Obispo to the Oregon Border). The Harker teams were “In High Demand,” comprising juniors Emaad Raghib, Taylor Iantosca, Joyce Huang and Priyanka Taneja; “The Visible Hands” comprising seniors Michael Zhao, Samali Sahoo, Daphne Yang and Alice Wu; and “Team Harker 13” (aka “the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney”), comprising seniors Abhinav Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, Grace Guan and Adele Li.
Two teams were eliminated, but one went on to take top honors. Coach Sam Lepler filled in the details: “In a great event, the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney emerged victorious in a tight, hard-fought battle.
“After three rounds of testing in microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics and current events, the aforementioned team held a slim 10-point (1,200 to 1,190) lead on a strong team from Dougherty Valley and just a 60-point lead on a another solid squad from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. However, a strong quiz bowl effort, which included several questions well beyond the AP curriculum, helped them pull away and cruise to a solid victory.
“The team is now into the national semifinals with all of the other state winners, and will take a proctored exam on April 26. The top four scores among all the state winners on that test will get an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete for the national championship. The competition is harder and tighter every year with more and more participating schools, so it’s awesome to have Harker emerge again!” Lepler finished.
Go, Harker Eaglenomics!