Greenwich High School’s Econ Club, advised by Ian Tiedemann, has a lot to celebrate.
A team of 9th and 10th graders recently participated in the national Euro Challenge competition.
The semifinals included the top 25 teams that advanced from their respective regions. From there, five advance to the finals.
Not only did the Greenwich High School team advance to the finals, they finished second overall.
Their topic was, “Boosting Growth, Competitiveness, and Prosperity in Germany.”
The Euro Challenge team representing the GHS Econ Club came in second in the national semi-finals. Meeting in Ian Tiedemann’s classroom, front row: Diana Davidson (grade 10/presenter), Raghav, Ramji (grade 9/presenter), Alex Jackson (grade 10/presenter) and Youhan Liang (grade 10/presenter). Back row: Jin Cha (grade 9/researcher and alternate), Kaitlyn Qin (grade 10/presenter). May 8, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Sophomore, Diana Davidson, said the group traveled by train to New York City for the competition in late April.
“We’re so thankful to Mr. Tiedemann,” Diana said. “He put in a lot of work to help get us here, both in and out of school. I think as a team we have a really good culture going. Everyone was really invested in the project, and that helped us get a good result.”
“I was new to the school this year and it helped me make a lot of new friends,” she added.
The team members were also grateful to upperclassmen Shaurya Singh, Sylvester Pecora and Axel Persson who also served as coaches.
Freshman Raghav Ramji said he joined the Econ Club after learning about it during last fall’s Club Fair.
He said the team selected the topic about Germany because impacted people in their every day lives, including labor migration, the energy sector, digitalization and the automotive industry.
“We thought this topic would best fit the struggles Germany is facing,” he added. “Also with the whole election and with tariffs, things like the auto industry are being affected.”
Shaurya Singh, a junior said he, Axel and Sylvester enjoyed mentoring the underclassmen for the past two months.
“It was impressive seeing all these guys get together, almost every night for a call – actually listening to what we were saying,” he recalled. “This room is full of happy people.”
Sylvester Pecora, also a junior, said the coaches were extraordinarily proud of the team.
“We always felt like each of them were putting in so much effort, not just for themselves, but for one another. It was amazing to see, as coaches who obviously want to try our hardest to bring this team to a win, but also wanted this team to have a different type of experience they’ve never had before,” Sylvester said. “We were just so proud of them.”
Kaitlin Qin, a sophomore, recalled the team working hard to memorize and practice.
“At every meeting there was noticeable progress,” she said.
“Every single night we had a two-hour call, but we were having so much fun while also being productive,” she added. “We learned so much of the AP Macro course in three months. In the beginning I did not feel confident at all, but knowledge is confidence,” Kaitlin said.
The team had a three part task:
1. Describe the current economic situation in the Euro Area.
2. Select one economic-related challenge topic confronting the euro area as a whole (see list below), and pick one of the 20 member countries of the euro area to illustrate that challenge.
3. Recommend a policy or policies for addressing the challenge you identified in the country you selected. Be sure to include in your recommendation a discussion of how having a single currency may or may not affect the policy choices for addressing the challenge.
With their topic focused on Germany, the team’s 15-minute presentation was followed by 10 minutes of questions about macroeconomics and issues specific to their slides.
The top two teams will go to Washington DC in late May, where they will present to ambassadors from their focus country.
Most of the members of the Econ Club are pictured at their May 8 meeting with advisor Ian Tiedemann, pictured back row far right. May 8, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Mr. Tiedemann beamed with pride at Thursday’s Econ Club meeting where the group celebrated with a Fudgie The Whale cake and a coconut layer cake made by club member and coach, Axel Persson.
“You bring me joy,” Tiedemann said to his students as he recapped the group’s successes and told the students how proud he was, not just of the win, but for the way they work together, coach each other, and in the process became a family.
“The trophy is not the point,” he added. “The point is you learned a lot and had fun.”
“Of course this is a group of academically motivated students who are invested in learning and motivated to succeed in various competitions, but what really brought me joy this year was their sense of community,” Tiedemann said in an email. “The 11th and 12th grade students helped me teach and coach the 9th and 10th graders that comprised our Euro Challenge team. The group met several times a week and put in many hours of research, practice, revision and collaboration; they even learned macroeconomics in the process! Meanwhile, this team became as close as a family, which I’d argue is even better than making the finals of the Euro Challenge.”