Third Championship in Three Years
In a very close Buzzer round, Iolani School representing Hawaii and the Western Region defeated Minnesota to win the National Economics Championship in the Ricardo (NON AP) Division of the Goldman Sachs National Economics Challenge.
With the score tied 8-8, Iolani pulled away at the end to win by three points in a very exciting and nail-biting (according to Coach Richie Kibota) final buzzer round.
The team of Yoichi Sagawa, Cody Silva, Evan Kam, and Thanh Vu had led throughout the written competition. Coach Kibota attributed the win to lots of hard work by all team members.
Soon after the competition, Evan Kam was seen on national TV (Bloomberg Network) with the president of the National Council on Economic Education, Dr. Bob Duvall. Evan also attributed the win to lots of hard work.
Iolani also had a team at the Nationals representing Hawaii and the Western Region in the Adam Smith Division (AP). In fact, Hawaii was the only state to have both regional winners from the same state, let alone the same school.
The team of Marisa Ideta, Jonah Yuen, Alex Chun, and Nate Yang gave it their best and were tied for second after the first two rounds. They completed the competition placing fourth in the nation.
The weekend included two guided tours of New York City. Students visited the financial district, Central Park, Ground Zero and the Theater Dictrict. They saw "Phantom of the Opera" on their final night in town.
The previous nights, the National Council on Economic Education and the Goldman Sachs Foundation treated them to "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and a Dinner Cruise around the island of Manhatton.
They also opted to see the Opening night of "Shreck 111" in lieu of the Yankee/Mets game at Shea Stadium, much to the chagrin of Coaches Kibota and Rankin.
