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Eastern Michigan students test economic skills in the final round of the Fed Challenge

by Emily Vontom, Published February 20, 2012

Eastern's Fed Challenge Team

Students from Eastern Michigan University's economics department took on the Federal Reserve as they demonstrated their economic skills during the final round of the Fed Challenge regional competition in Chicago.

"The Fed Challenge requires a team of three to five students to provide a 20 to 30 minute presentation on the current economic situation," said Raouf Hanna, head of the economics department. "This includes an outlook for future economic activity, and based on this, a recommendation for monetary policy is made."

Representing Eastern were: 

• Edward Cruz: an actuarial mathematics major from Manchester, Mich.

• Gregory Henry: an honors student majoring in finance and economics, from Parma, Ohio.

• Daniel Routley: a pre-law student majoring in economics with a minor in political science, from Big Rapids, Mich.

• Peter Torres: an international business major focused on economics with a second major in Japanese Language and Culture. Peter is a graduate of Southgate Anderson High School in Southgate, Mich.

• Jonathan Williams: a double major in economics and mathematics with a minor in finance. He is from West Chicago, Ill.

Cullen Poasquesi-Hill served as an alternate. while Christy Okpo and Jeff Kennedy were involved with competition preparation.

Teams were graded on their knowledge of the Federal Reserve and macroeconomics goals and theory, their presentation and analysis of key measures of economic activity, and on their overall team performance.

"We finished fourth, however, only six points separated the first and fourth place teams." said David Crary, an economics professor and the team's coach. "Based on what we learned from this year's competition, we expect to have a significant shot at winning next year's regional competition and competing in the national level in Washington D.C."

Other Michigan schools that participated in the regional competition were Albion College (this year's regional winner), Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan.