November 6, 2009

Lafayette College Wins College Fed Challenge Preliminary

Richmond, VA

Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., won the preliminary round of the College Fed Challenge Competition held Nov. 2–4 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Baltimore branch. The team included students Chencong Bao, Teevrat Garg, Dylan McNamara, Alex Petroulias, Dan Stefan and Nick Stacey and was coached by Professors James Deveault and Julie Smith. Lafayette will advance to the Fifth District championship in Richmond on Nov. 16, and compete against teams from James Madison University and the University of North Carolina.

The University of Delaware and Lehigh University were finalists in the Baltimore competition.

The competition also included teams from the following regional schools: Towson University, Loyola University, Shepherd University, Gettysburg College, Mount St. Mary's University, McDaniel College, Salisbury University, American University, Frederick Community College, Shippensburg University, Prince George's Community College, the U.S. Naval Academy, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Elizabethtown College.

In addition, Prince George's Community College will advance to the Community College Interdistrict Fed Challenge competition, scheduled Dec. 8.

Students delivered 20-minute presentations on monetary policy and were scored on content, teamwork, responses to questions, presentation and style. The judges were Alan Cox, executive director of the Maryland Coalition for Financial Literacy; Mary Ann Hewitt, executive director of the Maryland Council on Economic Education; Doug Lamdin, economics professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County; and Laura Brusca of the Maryland Council on Economic Education.

The Richmond Fed sponsors College Fed Challenge, a regional academic competition, to encourage better understanding of the nation's central bank, the forces influencing economic conditions in the United States and abroad, and the ways the economy affects everyone.

View photo of winning team

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is one of 12 District Reserve Banks that together with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the Federal Reserve System. The Richmond Fed serves the Fifth Federal Reserve District, which encompasses the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and most of West Virginia.

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