Swampscott Storms the Summit

Chaos ensued at Patriot Place on December 4, 2013 as nearly five hundred teenagers scrambled to finish trading their imports and exports.

As participants in the annual International Economic Summit, teenagers mimicked world economics by representing countries, forming alliances, and trading products.

According the International Economic Summit website, the Summit is a program where “student teams represent countries from around the world and use skills acquired in the classroom to negotiate trade alliances, develop economic policies, and debate real world issues.”  

This year, Swampscott High School participated for the second time, sending two teams to the Summit. Eight students composed the teams, representing Ireland and Morocco. 

The International Economic Summit hopes to “live, work, and thrive in our rapidly changing world,” by challenging students to think globally. Participants also benefit by learning about world geography and economics.

Swampscott senior Allison Richardson, who represented Team Ireland, believed that the Summit helped increase her geography skills.

“I studied flags and countries I hadn’t previously known,” she said.

Junior Miriam Mangold of Team Morocco also learned during the Summit.

“It showed me just a small but very important bit of how the world economy works. And how crazy it is!” she said.

Both teams prepared for the Summit by meeting with their team once a week after school. They studied flags and maps, presented an innovative solution to a world problem, and researched their countries.

Though most teams in the Summit prepare daily during an economics class within the school day, Swampscott students still felt prepared.

Senior Ashling Quinn, who also represented Team Ireland, said, “The steps to get ready, such as writing the proposal and the certification quiz, help you to plan and learn the rules.”

Mangold added, “It’s all about practice!”

Quinn also recognized that the Summit increased her awareness of global policies.

“I wasn’t interested in economics before the Summit, but now I’m more aware of economics affecting world issues,” she said.

The Summit crowns four winners: a high income country, a middle income country, a low income country, and the overall winning country. Both Swampscott teams fared relatively well, with Ireland ranking 30th and Morocco 69th out of approximately 100 teams.

All three students would participate again next year if given the chance. Hopefully, this year was the start of an Economic Summit tradition at Swampscott High.