Edina High School students win state economics challenge championship

Edina High School took first place in the Adam Smith division of the State Economics Challenge competition, the most challenging division for students in advanced classes.

Edina students Henry Zhao, Aryan Jain, Evan Jiang, and Arjun Maheshwari earned the champion title after receiving top scores in an online test of microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, current events, and economic problem-solving. The students excelled in challenging circumstances, with the state championship and qualifying regional competitions moving to an online format due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The commitment and determination of these students, supported by social studies teacher and coach Steven Cullison, and of all competitors in the 2020 Economics Challenge program is a sure credit to these outstanding young people.

Economics Challenge began in 1986. In 2001, the competition became a national program with more than 10,000 students competing across the country in the National Economics Challenge. Minnesota’s Economics Challenge program prepares students to apply their classroom knowledge and learning to test their economic understanding and reasoning abilities, equipping them to be creative problem-solvers and leaders in and out of the classroom.