Economists of the future celebrate their international win at The Young Economic Summit in Hamburg

A team of our Year 13 students are celebrating after an incredible result at The Young Economic Summit (YES!) in Hamburg last week.

The Young Economic Summit – YES! is a new national competition for schools in the UK, USA and Germany, that focuses on developing solutions to socio-economic, environmental and political issues in society.

Isabelle Watts, Priya Choker, Amran Bains, Jasmine Barry and Millicent Brock, who all study Economics A Level at Sheffield Girls’ Sixth Form were invited to the international finals of the competition after beating stiff competition to place in the top two teams in the UK finals.

The team had been selected as one of five in the UK to work with specialist German researchers to develop new initiatives promoting cross border cooperation, with the aim of addressing some of the most pertinent immigration issues of the day. Our budding economists worked with Steffen Müller, from Universität Hamburg to explore solutions to the problem of immigration-related discrimination.

Reflecting on the challenges of tackling such a complex topic, Stephen Coote, Head of Business and Economics, said: ‘This has been an amazing experience for our students. They have learnt the importance of a scientific approach to problem solving and have had the opportunity to discuss their solution with renowned economists and politicians.’ 

The team used a scientific approach and recent academic research to devise a targeted strategy to tackle misinformation, crafting their ‘Migration Education for the Misinformed Nation’ concept, they developed a two-tier solution, including a compulsory PSHE programme for primary schools to tackle common misconceptions; and a social media campaign to target older age groups. After succeeding in the UK event, the girls this week competed with their European peers at the International Finals, and walked away with the top prize: International Winners.

Speaking about their experiences at the event in Hamburg, Amran said: ‘YES has been an incredible journey, allowing us to work as a team to create innovative solutions to prevalent issues in today’s world. It is different to any competition offered to us in school before and I will always appreciate the opportunity I had to be a part of such an amazing competition.’ Isabelle said ‘YES was an amazing experience that allowed me to explore how Economics applies to the real world in more depth. It was a privilege to meet the other teams and listen to their innovative solutions. I have loved taking part!'

For more information about the YES! Young Economic Summit visit www.young-economic-summit.org/en/