(Chelsea Update would like to thank Matt Pedlow for the information and photos in this story.)
For the first time, Chelsea High School students recently won state titles in both the Econ Challenge and Personal Finance Challenge in the same year.
Evan Sing, Jace DeRosia, Parker Olk, and Peter Fredenberg were on the Econ Challenge team that won the state title.
Evan Sing, Jace DeRosia, Stella Moore, and Michael Struk were on the Personal Finance Challenge team that won.
This is the 5th straight year of winning the Personal Finance Challenge, and the 3rd time winning the Econ Challenge said Matt pedlow.
“I am very proud of this group of students. Typically students are chosen for the Econ Challenge team based on practice AP Exam scores, and these four were at the top. I knew that all four students would present Chelsea well, and they certainly didn’t disappoint,” Pedlow said.
The Econ Challenge is done through a series of tests that cover microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international trade. Once the scores are compiled, the top 2 teams in the state compete in a quiz bowl, and Chelsea was in first place entering the quiz bowl against a very good Troy High School team, Pedlow said.
Troy High School has won the Econ Challenge in years past and always seems to be one of the top teams in the state, but the Bulldog team got off to a quick start and didn’t look back during the quiz bowl.
Chelsea ended up winning 14-4 in the quiz bowl.
The personal finance challenge is done by sending students a case study a week before the competition, and having students then present a financial plan for the fictional family.
The teams present their recommendations to a panel of judges, and the top team from each room then competes in a quiz bowl of personal finance knowledge. The Chelsea students had a great presentation ready for the judges, and after all of the scores were tabulated the team from CHS was in first place.
They then competed against a team from the International Academy at Bloomfield Hills, which is one of the top ranked schools in the country. “Our students didn’t do a lot of prep for the quiz bowl, but they used the knowledge they had gained preparing for the case studies and won 11-5,” Pedlow said.
Students are chosen for the Personal Finance Challenge a couple of different ways. Typically, students are chosen if they have high scores on practice personal finance quizzes, but this year the state did away with the required test to enter the competition.
“I knew that all four students were very intelligent, but more importantly, very good at presenting to a panel of judges. It’s often difficult for teenagers to talk confidently in front of adults, but this team was one of the best that has ever represented Chelsea High School,” he said.
Stella Moore has always spoken so eloquently, and according to her teammates stood out the day of the competition. I was very confident that each of these four would be experts at their chosen topic (taxes, investing, saving, insurance, etc) and also be great presenting to the judges. The judges had nothing but good things to say about each of the students on the team, Pedlow said.
