Lincoln Northeast, Elkhorn win Nebraska Economics Challenge

Teams of students from Lincoln Northeast and Elkhorn high schools were the division winners in the Nebraska Economics Challenge March 28 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and have qualified for the Regional Economics Challenge April 27 in Houston.

A Lincoln Northeast team of Ben Breckbill, Leah Jensen, Cara Nickolaus and Andrew Wesley, coached by Carol Mathias, won the Adam Smith Division, defeating a team from Omaha Central in the finals. The runner-up Central team included Pete Fey, Luke Hawbaker, Doug Knickrehm and John Lloyd and was coached by Vicki Deniston-Reed.

In the finals of the David Ricardo Division, an Elkhorn team of Robbie Grove, Alex Krik, R.J. Stirling and Will Trout, coached by Nick Jarzynka, defeated a team from Bellevue East. The Bellevue East team, coached by P.K. Simmons, included Francesca Cutrera, Sam Ervin, Andrea Kepford, Victoria Trojanowski and Matthew Wilch.

The competition at the Nebraska Champions Club tested teams of high school students on their economic knowledge. Students, divided into two divisions, competed in four rounds. The first three rounds consisted of an assessment of their knowledge of topics related to macroeconomics (the study of the economy as a whole), microeconomics (the study of the economic behavior of individuals, businesses and industries) and international economics. They individually answered multiple-choice questions and a team score was comprised of the top three individual scores. The top two team scores in each division advanced to the final round where they orally answered questions using a quiz-bowl format.

Participating high schools included Ashland-Greenwood, Bellevue East, Bellevue West, Dorchester, Elkhorn, Fullerton, Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer, Lincoln Northeast, Omaha Central, Southwest of Indianola, Twin River and Waverly.

The winning teams from the Regional Economics Challenge competition will receive individual savings bonds and an all-expense-paid trip to the National Economics Challenge in New York City in May.

The Nebraska Economics Challenge is sponsored by the Nebraska Council on Economic Education (www.nebraskacouncil.org), a nonprofit organization based at UNL dedicated to improving the economic literacy of Nebraska's students. This goal is achieved primarily through economic education programs, courses and workshops for educators across the state. The Federal Reserve Bank of Omaha-Kansas City Branch, the Council for Economic Education and Goldman Sachs co-sponsored the event.