May 5, 2004 - A team of five students from Shaker Heights High School finished in the top four nationally in the Fed Challenge 2004, a monetary-policy competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The members of the team, coached by teacher Diana Jones, are Andre Dev, Anna Dev, Kelly Schaefer, Jussi Tahtinen and Nadav Weinberg.  

To get to the national finals, they won two earlier rounds, defeating teams from throughout Northeast Ohio and then throughout the Fed's Fourth District, which includes all of Ohio plus parts of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

In the final round, the competing teams made policy recommendations to the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, which meets regularly to discuss and formulate U.S. monetary policy.

The Shaker team earned $25,000 in prize money -- $4,000 for each of the students, $2,000 for Jones, and $3,000 for the school.

This year, 230 teams from around the country competed in the Fed Challenge. Students prepare for several months for the competition, where they are judged on the following criteria:

• Knowledge of monetary policy and the Federal Reserve's role in its implementation
• Responses to the judges' questions
• Quality of the presentation
• Quality of the research and analysis
• Evidence of teamwork and cooperation

Andre Dev and Anna Dev are juniors and the remaining team members are seniors. Kelly plans to attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Jussi plans to enroll at Northwestern University, and Nadav will attend Case Western Reserve University.