Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke entered the boardroom with an important announcement: the start of the National College Federal Reserve Challenge.
Bernanke then stepped aside to let Northwestern’s Federal Challenge team take on the state of the economy as they role-played the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
After placing first out of 15 teams in the regional competition, NU placed third in the Nov. 27 competition, winning $5,000 in prize money.
Champions of the Fed Challenge for the past three years, NU finished behind first-place Harvard University and the second-place State University of New York at Geneseo.
The competition involved a 20-minute presentation on the state of the economy followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session.
For their presentation, team members – Weinberg senior Jeanne Ruan, McCormick junior Matt Dabrowski, Weinberg juniors Chad Frontz and Nasko Stoyanov and Weinberg sophomore Alexandru Rus – role-played the members of the Federal Open Market Committee in a mock meeting where they discussed the direction the economy is heading.
They also talked about policy, where they concluded that interest rates should be held at current levels, said Frontz, who played Fed Chairman Bernanke.
But seeing the real Bernanke was more exciting for some team members.
“You see him on TV or read his speeches and then all of a sudden he’s 10 feet away from you and talking about you competing in this competition,” Dabrowski said.
During the question-and-answer session, the judges, all leading economists, asked the team questions on current events and economic theory. To prepare for this portion, the team kept up-to-date by reading various articles and practicing with coach Mark Witte, a lecturer in NU’s economics department.
The question-and-answer part of the competition showed how well prepared the team was, Stoyanov said.
“It’s important that you just don’t blank out,” he said. “You sometimes have to dodge the question and move toward something you know.”
The combination of the team’s diverse strengths and their ability to work well together contributed to their success, Frontz said.
Ruan, the team’s captain and only returning member, agreed.
“This is one of the closest, integrated, most cohesive teams we’ve ever had,” she said.
The team members also attributed their success to Witte.
“He was the engine behind the team,” Stoyanov said.
With determination and new ideas, the team plans to make a comeback next year.
“I think we can ‘quant’ it up a bit,” Witte said. “I think that’s a way to put it out there, show what good students Northwestern has and separate us from the other schools.”
Frontz agreed with Witte, adding that next year the team will come back stronger.
“We thought we had a first-place effort but, I guess the judges didn’t think so,” he said. “We’re going to come back next year and get first again.”
Reach Kirsten Salyer at [email protected].
