The Andover Economics Team, Chuan Xu ’12, James Lim ’12, Tum Kulalert ’11 and Advaya Krishna ’11, place first out of 1500 competing teams in the National Economics Challenge in New York City on May 22, each winning $3,000 in treasury bonds along with medals and a trophy. The team is undefeated in every competition this season, winning the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge, the Massachusetts Economics Challenge as well as the National Economics Challenge. The National Economics Challenge started with 1500 competing teams. Each state held local competitions and selected a state champion to represent the state at the national semifinal round, reducing the number of competing teams to 50. The top six teams among the national semifinals participants competed again in the finals of the National Economics Challenge. There were three rounds of testing and one round of buzzing in the form of a quiz bowl. The three rounds of testing were divided into microeconomics, macroeconomics and international economics/current events. In the final round, the Andover team defeated Mounds View Senior High School, MN with a final score of 16 to 13. This year was Andover’s second year of competing. A team led by Kwon Yong Jin ’10 took first place in the competition in 2009. Lim said that hearing about Andover’s 2009 victory gave them “the impetus to continue on with the legacy.” Xu said, “When I was a freshman I was really impressed by how they won. I’m very interested in econ to start with. I finished AP econ in my Lower year, so I have a basis in it. I thought we couldn’t just waste this opportunity.” According to the National Economics Challenge webpage, it is the only nationwide competition exclusively for high school students to delve into and showcase their knowledge in economics. It was originally established in 2000. The team began studying for the competition after returning from Spring Break by reviewing sheets Xu had prepared and sample tests that were available on the competition’s webpage. Mounds View Senior High School from Minnesota took second, The Harker School from California took third, Choate Rosemary Hall from Connecticut took fourth, Iolani School from Hawaii took fifth and North Carolina School of Mathematics and Sciences took sixth in the national competition. “I’ve always been interested in economics. For me, economics is like a really good mix between humanities and national science. It uses national science like experiments to consider problems that concern humans in general like scarcity,” said Kulalert. Both Lim and Kulalert gave credit to Xu for organizing and leading the team. Lim said, “Chuan was basically the mastermind in getting this whole thing together.” “He was practically the captain of the team and he made all the study guides for us to study,” added Kulalert. The team members enjoyed their experience at the competition. “There was a great feeling of euphoria after [winning]. I think overall, we all had a pretty fun time learning stuff together and it all paid off in the end,” said Lim. Xu said, “We had a really strong team this year, and I think that the team really worked hard. I’m real proud of them. It was just amazing. We didn’t expect the results to be so good. When the judge finally said, ‘Phillips Academy, you’re the 2011 National Economics Challenge champion,’ we pretty much just went crazy. That moment will stay in my memory forever.” Lim believes that the school will compete in following years; however, this year will be his only year competing due to conflicts with his Track Interschols. Carroll Perry and Christopher Shaw, Instructors in History and Social Science, coached the team through the first two rounds. For the National finals round, Jeffrey Phaneuf, Teaching Fellow in History, chaperoned the team.