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April 22, 2011– The Texas Council on Economic Education (TCEE) in partnership with State Farm Insurance announced the participants and winners of the student teams that competed on April 14, 2011 at the Texas Capitol in the statewide Economics Challenge.
Houston Independent School District’s Bellaire High School teams in Michael Clark’s classrooms won first and second place in the Adam Smith division. The Bellaire Lakers will be competing for Texas at the regional level of the Economics Challenge on April 27, 2011. The Bellaire Heat won second place in the Smith division.
Plano High School in Plano ISD won both first and second place in the David Ricardo division. Brandon Nelms’ The Oligopolites team will represent the state in the regional competition. Jacqueline Dillon’s Plano 4 team won second place in the state competition.
The competition centers around how well teams of four perform on exams that test knowledge of micro, macro and international economics. Students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes as well as home school students compete in the Adam Smith division. Other economics and career/technical students compete in the David Ricardo division. After taking three written tests, the top two teams in each division “faced off” in a Quiz Bowl with the Texas winners moving on to regional and then national competitions.
State Farm believes that improving economic education in schools will positively impact communities by preparing young people to be financially educated and college ready. More than 9 in 10 adults and students believe it’s important to have a good understanding of economics. However, only half of high school students say they have been taught economics or personal finance concepts. “It’s vital that we educate our youth on the financial pitfalls that can derail their future, often before they’ve even had a chance to get started in the work world,” said Stacie Gaynor, State Farm spokesperson. “We are proud to support this valuable program.”
According to Laura Ewing, President of TCEE, “Competition sparks an added interest in studying and preparing for the three economics tests. The result is increased learning and an opportunity for students to develop skills of collaboration. TCEE gratefully acknowledges the amount of work involved for teachers in preparing students for the competition as well as the commitment by the student. It is also through State Farm’s generous support and partnership of this program that so much can be offered for the benefit of the students participating.”
Texas schools have a history of doing well at nationals with economics teacher Michael Clark of Bellaire High School in Houston ISD having a team place second nationally in the New York City Smith competition last year. And Kevin Magavern of Plano High School had a team win third place nationally in the Ricardo national division.
Students who attended the State competition had a group photograph taken together on the Capitol Steps.
TCEE appreciates the time and effort of the volunteers in helping make the Texas competition such a success:
State Farm
Stacie Gaynor, Amelia Folkes, Linda Goss, Joe Pena
Graders: Sally Besett, Sandy Castillo, Letty Garza, Carmen Salazar
Austin ISD
Joe Ramirez, Terry Loessin, Janie Maldonado, Janie McClam, Celeste Smith
Leander ISD
Kip Harmon
Round Rock ISD
Tina Melcher
About Texas Council on Economic Education (TCEE)
The mission of the Texas Council on Economic Education is to provide programs and services that will enable students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills using basic economic concepts. TCEE provides grade appropriate programs related to Economics, Personal Finance and Entrepreneurship. All TCEE programs are open to Texas teachers across all grade levels.
About State Farm
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. Our 17,800 agents and more than 66,000 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts – more than 79 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and nearly 2 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 34 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.
The Economics Challenge adds the fun of a competition to make learning economic concepts come alive. Working in teams of four, students compete either in the David Ricardo or Adam Smith division. The top fall and spring winners in each of the four state regions compete for the state championship in the spring. Visit the Economics Challenge Homepage for complete information. For the Economics Challenge rules in Texas,click here.
