Create a New Team (For Students and Teachers)
2023 Fed Challenge UPDATE
The Federal Reserve, along with other co-sponsoring Federal Reserve Banks and regional planning universities, have made the decision to again host the National College Fed Challenge virtually to ensure the competition can be held in 2023. Please see College Fed Challenge 2023 Rules and Steps. The virtual format will continue to allow schools outside the current Fed Challenge districts to compete in a newly created "at-large" new region.
- First, review the National Guidelines and National College Fed Challenge Rubric and Scoring Sheet (PDF) under "Team Presentations and Scoring."
Create a Club or Organization Using these Five Main Steps:
- Get involved in similar student organizations and see if they have a sub-team of a club dedicated to the Fed Challenge, if so get involved, if not:
- Create a club and team as a separate organization. Sometimes this is housed in a campus's career services, but each school may differ.
- Meet with your Economic Department Director or equivalent for career services and other faculty members to garner support.
- If starting a club from scratch, plan out your mission statement, objectives (see sample objectives below), the structure of the overall club, and the resources needed.
- Use a fillable poster around campus to promote competition participation.
- Once you obtain official approval to be a new organization and possibly secure support from the department for marketing materials, you may:
- go to lectures to pitch the club
- email other organizations to raise awareness
- hand out flyers
- attend the campus career fair
- use personal networks to get students interested
Sample Objectives of a Fed Challenge Team/Club:
- Develop job relevant skills in all Fed Challenge club members
- Make all members (some clubs have about 3-5 "analysts" that support each presentation member) responsible for specific research objectives and require them to present their findings
- Developing research, leadership, time management, and presentation skills
- Get members certified in different statistical and financial software platforms.
- Make all members (some clubs have about 3-5 "analysts" that support each presentation member) responsible for specific research objectives and require them to present their findings
- Expose members to different career paths within economics and finance
- Bring in speakers, as possible through:
- Professors
- PhD students in economics
- Current employees at the Federal Reserve
- Private sector finance professionals
- Attend economic conferences in local area
- Bring in speakers, as possible through:
- Develop, refine, and execute a solid presentation that can be used as a template (year over year) for future generations of the club as a reference.
- Cultivate leaders within the club to develop a pipeline of talent to lead the organization moving forward
- Institute a mentorship program to foster relationships between experienced and less experienced member