MADISON – Their minds were focused on trends and statistics, which paid dividends at the Alabama Economics Challenge 2021 for students from Bob Jones High School.

The contest, nicknamed EconChallenge, encourages students to apply their knowledge of this field as they work in teams to win state, regional and national awards. EconChallenge receives support from Alabama State Department of Education, Council for Economic Education, Medical Properties Trust, Alabama Economics Club and University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Testing students’ knowledge of economics, online competition determined the champions this year.

Guided by economics teacher Loren Springer, Bob Jones teams claimed first and second places, advancing them to national semi-finals.

First-place finishers in the David Ricardo Division of the contest were Emma Bordelon, Liam Kilpatrick and Julia Pimmel. Earning second-place honors in the Adam Smith Division were Brandon Clark, Ethan Gann, Quin Goins and David Reynolds.

Winning teams earned prize money, which students divided among themselves.

All team members were enrolled in one of Springer’s economics classes during spring semester 2001. Teams applied material that they learned in the classroom to advance to a win. They also reviewed pertinent facts with Springer before the competition.

Senior Julia Pimmel said her team “studied with Ms. Springer for a couple of days to refresh what (they had) learned in the class, since it was last nine weeks.” For the EconChallenge test, the teams received a large packet of sample questions as study material, according to “Patriot Pages,” the student news site for Bob Jones. (bjhspatriotpages.com)

For the competition’s second half, Pimmel said the team did not prepare as much, although “questions were a lot harder. There was stuff we hadn’t even learned about in class.”

The competition was “basically like a second econ final,” senior Emma Bordelon said. After their success in the competition, the Bob Jones team advanced to another round, Julia Wilhide wrote in her article. Wilhide, a “Patriot Pages” writer, recently graduated from Bob Joes.

Alabama Council on Economic Education, the competition sponsor, improves financial education in Alabama by providing professional development and curriculum resources for K-12 teachers in public and private schools.

For more information, visit econalabama.org.