Over 50 students from four Hawai'i high schools competed in this year's state challenge final. Image By Michael Matsushita.
For a second year in a row, HPU hosted the Hawaiʻi State Economics Challenge (HSEC) at the University’s Aloha Tower Marketplace campus. Over 50 students from four Hawaiʻi high schools competed in this year’s state challenge final. The HSEC is the premier economics competition for high school students in the state, testing micro and macroeconomic principles and knowledge of international economics and current events.
Schools that competed this year were Kalani High School, Maryknoll School, ʻIolani School, and Kamehameha Schools. The planning and hosting of the event were undertaken by the HPU Center for Entrepreneurship and Economics Education.
“The Hawaiʻi State Econ Challenge is an opportunity for young minds to apply their learning, experience the thrill of competition, and to engage more deeply with the subject,” said HPU Director of the Center for Economic Education Gerard Dericks, Ph.D.
The HSEC runs in two divisions. The Adam Smith division, for AP, international baccalaureate, and honors students, and returning competitors; and the David Ricardo division, for first-time challenge competitors who have taken no more than one economics course.
Groups of three to four students competed, each guided by a teacher-coach. The top four teams advanced to a final round modeled after Jeopardy, where the ultimate victor earns the title of state champion.
For the second year in a row, ʻIolani school won both the David Ricardo division and the Adam Smith division. The school will proceed to the National Economics Challenge semi-finals where they will compete in a 45-question online quiz. The finals will be held on June 1-3, 2024, in New York City.
The HPU Center for Entrepreneurship and Economics Education launched in 2021 with the mission to empower Hawaiʻi to build a more robust economic future through broadening and deepening economic education and helping to cultivate entrepreneurial values throughout the state.
The Center also conducts “Teach the Teacher” programs for Hawaiʻi high school teachers to help educate and equip teachers to incorporate economics principles and entrepreneurial values into their lessons.
To learn more about HPU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Economics Education, click here.
