High school students evaluate legislation using math, contend for scholarship prizes

The current economic crisis provides natural discussion topics for high school economics and social studies classes--but math class? Absolutely!

This year's Moody's Mega Math Challenge problem, "$787 Billion: Will the Stimulus Act Stimulate the U.S. Economy?" asked high school students to identify and mathematically assess the parts of the stimulus package most likely to produce the greatest improvements in employment and the time frame over which this effect would take place. They also had to quantify their findings using mathematical modeling and quantitative analysis techniques, develop and defend their models, and justify their conclusions.

"That teams of three to five students were able to make so much progress on this exceptionally daunting problem and in just 14 hours is a testament to the quality of our high school students and their teachers," said Lee Seitelman, professional consultant and Director of Judging for the Challenge. "This is especially true given the fact that the brightest minds in our country are grappling over these same issues at this very moment."

Close to 400 teams submitted viable solution papers on Challenge weekend, March 7-8. "The quality of the papers was excellent," said Ben Fusaro, M3 Challenge consultant and Head Judge. "The judges thought the solutions were exceptional considering that the authors are high school juniors and seniors."

After undergoing an extensive judging process during the past month, the following teams (listed alphabetically) were selected to contend for the top six awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000:

• Bergen County Academies, Team #119, Hackensack, New Jersey
• Elk County Catholic High School, Team #290, Saint Marys, Pennsylvania
• High Technology High School, Team #58, Lincroft, New Jersey
• Staples High School, Team #143, Westport, Connecticut
• The Wheeler School, Team #128, Providence, Rhode Island
• West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Team #57, Plainsboro, New Jersey

These top teams will make formal presentations at the Moody's Corporation headquarters in Manhattan on May 5, when the judges learn for the first time the identities of the students and the schools they represent. Each team will have 15 minutes to present its solution paper and answer questions from the judges, who will then deliberate one last time and rank the teams in the final winning order. Following this deliberation, The Moody's Foundation, which funds the Challenge, will announce the winners and award the scholarship prizes.

In addition, teams representing the following 17 schools will be awarded Honorable Mention Team Prizes of $1,000 each: