Davidson’s Fed Challenge Team Reaches National Finals

What began as a student-led independent study has become a permanent course offering in the Department of Economics — one that produced a nationally competitive team.

Davidson's Fed Challenge team traveled to Washington, D.C., for the national finals of the College Fed Challenge, a competition hosted by the Federal Reserve Board in which undergraduate teams analyze economic conditions and present monetary policy recommendations to Fed economists. Davidson was one of just six finalists out of 139 participating schools from 36 states. The other finalists included Harvard, UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Chicago. Pace University took first place.

The result capped a remarkable run. Davidson first won the Richmond Federal Reserve District title, prevailing over institutions across the Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The team then advanced through a semifinal round — a live Q&A in which Federal Reserve economists questioned the students on current economic conditions, theory, and the potential effects of artificial intelligence on inflation and labor markets.

From Independent Study to a Learning Community

The Fed Challenge debuted at Davidson in 2024 as an independent study initiated by students Dean Dowling '25, Will Bacdayan '26, and Bilal Razzak '25, with the support of Associate Professor of Economics Caleb Stroup. After that inaugural team placed in the national top 15 percent, Stroup saw the potential to support a lasting student team at Davidson. They formalized the Fed Challenge as ECO 386, a regular course within the Department of Economics.

"I developed the Fed Challenge course to develop the skills at the heart of Davidson's mission: critical thinking, rigorous analysis, teamwork, and the ability to learn independently," Stroup said. "Davidson prepares graduates for lives of leadership and service, which means going beyond rote memorization and repeating what the professor said. It means taking responsibility, engaging with complexity, and wrestling with competing perspectives."

What sets ECO 386 apart is the course structure. Stroup describes their role as that of a facilitator-educator — a guide and coach rather than a lecturer. "There's simply too much information for any single mind to absorb — not even an expert professor's," Stroup said. "That's why the Fed Challenge course is built around learning community: students learn with and from each other, not just from a teacher."

In practice, that meant the team spent weeks processing vast quantities of economic data and research reports while debating what to include and what to cut, finally arriving at a unified monetary policy stance through peer deliberation. For Valeriia Kruzhkova '26, who led the growth sector, the work was also deeply personal.

“Participating in the Fed Challenge was one of the most rigorous experiences of my time at Davidson,” she said. “As an international student, it was especially meaningful to engage with FOMC communications and the Fed’s dual mandate in a way that was not just theoretical.”

Kruzhkova was responsible for synthesizing trends in consumption, investment, and net exports, and for framing how tariffs and AI could affect output and feed through to the Fed's goals of maximum employment and price stability. That role pushed the team to think beyond simply listing indicators and toward what a data-dependent policy stance should look like. She credited Intermediate Macroeconomics with Stroup for helping build that foundation. And as the team worked to shape a single 15-minute presentation across growth, labor, inflation, and financial sectors, “we spent a lot of late nights debating what to leave out and how to phrase our risk assessment.” For Kruzhkova, presenting a data-driven recommendation in Washington marked “a very personal milestone.”

Will Bacdayan '26, who served as the team's creative director and competed in the Fed Challenge for a second year, spoke to the hours spent refining arguments, anticipating policy questions, and running mock Q&A sessions. Eli Naughton '26 led the team's organizational and operations efforts, keeping the group on track through months of preparation.

Stroup said the students’ success was earned through their own drive and developed within the college’s learning community.

“I gave the team plenty of room to challenge one another and grow together, and I stepped in only occasionally with minor guidance,” Stroup said. “What set this team apart was their hunger to learn and to win. They rose to rank among the best in the country through their own efforts, supported by a strong learning environment. With the right support, our students can achieve extraordinary things.”

Bacdayan, reflecting on the program's trajectory, noted the foundation the team has built for future competitors. The resources, institutional knowledge, and course structure now in place mean that future Davidson teams won't have to start from scratch.

Looking Ahead

The Fed Challenge will return in fall 2026 as ECO 386, with Stroup continuing to organize the learning experience. For students drawn to economics, policy, and the challenge of making real arguments under real pressure, the opportunity is now a permanent part of Davidson's curriculum — and a powerful example of what liberal education can produce.