The Oxbridge Academy brought national monetary policy to life at its Federal Reserve Challenge on Monday, May 15. Twenty-four students in the Oxbridge Honors Seminar course in macroeconomics participated in the competition.
The students formed two teams and provided arguments in support of specific monetary policies in a simulated meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The event was the capstone for the course, where students study relationships among economic growth, unemployment, inflation and other economic factors, and learn about the role of the Federal Reserve in the macro economy
As participants in the competition, students took on the persona of a Federal Reserve board member or district bank president. Evaluating the students’ monetary policy arguments were panelists Aldo Palles, portfolio manager and managing director for U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management; John Poser, vice president of commercial and small markets for TD Bank; and James Murphy III, senior investment strategist and vice president at Comerica Bank. The keynote speaker was Marycela Diaz-Unzalu, a senior regional economic information network director at the Miami Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Oxbridge students participating in the Federal Reserve Challenge were (Group 1) Ben Garelick, Miranda Matthews, Kyle McCracken, Jessica Slater, Guy Quattlebaum, Alex Wong, Mingi Hong, Jordan Bustabad and Zara Barrett; and (Group 2) Alec Sullivan, Max McGould, Derek Pearson, Steven Ginsberg, Jimmy Kaiser, Victoria Webster, Kyle Rochefort, Will Brodner, Andrew Yavinsky, Faith Maniti, Alex Tum, Jackson Hanson, John Cotter, Jackson Risbara and Cody Kellner.
Moderating the challenge was Macroeconomics teacher Rob Frackelton. Group 2 won overall, based on their presentation, knowledge of economic principles and critical thinking skills.
ABOVE: (Front row) Kyle McCracken, Miranda Matthews, Zara Barrett, macroeconomics teacher Rob Frackelton, Marycela Diaz-Unzalu and Aldo Palles; and (back row) John Bowers, Kyle Rochefort, Mingi Hong and James Murphy III.
