Photo: Belmont students (from left) Zachery Tseng, Julia Logan, Camilla Carere and Sofia Schlozman took home first place overall and first place for low-income county in the 2018 International Economic Summit.

Fifty-two students from Beijing joined students from Belmont, Andover and Bedford high schools to compete in the 2018 Chinese-American International Economic Summit, held earlier this month at Belmont High School.

The summit is a day-long interactive simulation that asks students to compete in a wide range of events including quizzes (in personal finance, current events, economics and geography), a debate, and a trade simulation in which students have to negotiate amongst trade barriers, tariffs and financial limitations to execute a predetermined  list of imports. 

The International Economic Summit, which is run out of Boise State University, takes place 30 times a year all over the US. The summit featured 125 students making up 32 teams of 4 students.  Awards were given for best costume, best table display table display, and top performing countries in each of the following categories (low income, middle income, high income, and overall). 

The one that took place at Belmont High School is unique because it is the only one that features mixed teams of students from two different countries. Students from Belmont and Bedford were on teams that featured two Americans and two Chinese students. The summit involves a significant amount of pre-summit prep so students from Bedford and Belmont have been communicating with the Chinese students for the better part of two months. Prior to the summit, the students took two quizzes, create a global proposal and make a one-minute video of that proposal involving all members of the group. 

Belmont students Julia Logan and Sofia Scholzman, along with their Chinese partners, Jing Jing and Hongguang Paio, took home top performing low-income country, Vietnam, in addition to having the top table display. Belmont students Zachery Tseng and Camilla Carere, along with their Chinese teammates, Tantong Huang and Zicheng Zhao, won the entire summit.

The summit was put on in conjunction with Boise State and the LEAF Network, which is a teacher run and led professional development group in the fields of economics and finance. More information regarding LEAF can be found at http://www.theleafnet.org/