NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced the results of this year’s High School Fed Challenge, an academic paper competition. The competition, now in its 30th year, was open to high school teams across the nation for the first time.
Participating student teams research and analyze an economic theme, then write and submit podcast scripts reflecting their research. The selected podcast scripts will be published in this year’s Journal of Future Economists, to be released this summer.
The 2025 theme was Economics of Food. School teams submitted 195 papers; of those, Federal Reserve reviewers selected 12 to publish. The schools and podcast scripts that will be included are listed below in alphabetical order by school name:
- Cupertino High School, Cupertino, California; The Economics of Expiration Dates: Are You Throwing Away Good Food?
- Edgemont Jr./Sr. High School, Scarsdale, New York; Snackonomics: The Economic Inner Workings of the School Lunch Trade
- Farmington High School, Farmington, Connecticut; Crispy, Crunchy, and Costly: The Economics of Fried Chicken
- Friends Academy, Locust Valley, New York; Dining with the Stars: The Economics of Michelin Star Restaurants
- Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies, Sterling Heights, Michigan; Trending Bites: The Economics of TikTok Food Phenomena
- John Randolph Tucker High School, Henrico, Virginia; Fit or Fried: What the Chick-fil-A Menu Tells Us About Health Consciousness and Price Elasticities
- Miramonte High School, Orinda, California; Lett-uce Unpack: The Economics of Fast Food
- Mt. Hebron High School, Ellicott City, Maryland; Feeding the World: Globalization's Bite on U.S. Agriculture
- Saint Peter's Preparatory School, Jersey City, New Jersey; Chipotle and the Fast-Casual Revolution: How Food Economics Reshapes the U.S. Economy
- The Awty International School, Houston, Texas; Food Deserts in Houston
- The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey; Cracking the Eggconomy: The Scramble Behind Skyrocketing Egg Prices
- The University of Chicago Laboratory High School, Chicago, Illinois; When Healthy Just Isn’t an Option: Food Insecurity Fueling Rising Obesity Rates
The competition aims to encourage students in ninth to twelfth grade to learn more about economics, promoting economics as a subject of study and a career possibility. Students are not required to have studied economics to participate.
“We were thrilled with the national submissions we saw in this year’s competition,” said Heather Daly, director of economic education at the New York Fed. “We’re grateful to our colleagues at the Board of Governors and the Cleveland Fed for their partnership and support from across the Federal Reserve System, which gave schools across the United States and territories an opportunity to participate.”
“It was amazing to see the variety and creativity of topics students chose to study when it came to the Economics of Food,” said Elle Benak-Dammarell, education outreach coordinator at the Cleveland Fed. “I hope this experience helped students to realize that economics can help them understand so many things that touch people’s everyday lives.”
In previous years, the High School Fed Challenge was sponsored solely by the New York Fed and open only to high schools in the Federal Reserve’s Second District, which includes New York State, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Today, the competition is open to all high schools located in one of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts, as well as international Department of Defense Education Activity schools.
“The analytical, writing, and teamwork skills students hone by participating in the High School Fed Challenge will serve them well in any field they choose,” Daly said.
