Hua Chen, an attorney in intellectual property law, participated in the
Arizona state Economics Challenge competition in 2004 while
attending University High in Tucson.
Hua remembered her experience around the Arizona Economics
Challenge fondly. She said “Our team at University High won the state
championship and a mix of the top performers from the boys' team and
girls' team went on to the national competition. We celebrated the
winning with a trip to In-N-Out. The franchise played a bit of an
important role in our economics class with Ms. Gray regarding
efficiency and marginal costs. So we did our best to observe the
efficiency of the business.”
When asked about how economic education has made a difference in
her life, Hua said “I think economics made me more rational and reminded me to think from
different perspectives and at difference levels. Economic education with Ms. Gray has taught me
to be more methodical about my decision making process. In a way, Economics helped create a
personal decision tree for life.” Hua’s education and professional decisions have certainly been
very methodical. She had to sort through the financial and academic choices when faced college
decisions. She finally chose Wellesley College and graduated in the middle of the 2008-2009
great recession with a major in Biological Sciences. Considering the economic landscape and
future job prospects along with her education, she enrolled in the Physiological Science graduate
program at University of Arizona and later on completed her J.D. law degree at Arizona State
University.
Hua said her economics and personal finance education certainly helped her to understand the
causes, depth and breadth of the last great recession and guided her to make the best decision in
that situation. This is not a surprise to us as our students from elementary school to high school
learn the PACED decision model to guide them through the decisions and choices in life.
Hua advises that every student must take an economics and personal finance class because it is a
subject that is closest to real life and will help them make informed decisions as students,
employees, entrepreneurs, parents and citizens in the future. No matter what they end up doing
later on in life, economics and personal finance knowledge will be an important foundation to
their success.
Today economics is a required course with academic standards applicable from Kindergarten
level to 12th grade. Every student has an opportunity like Hua to sharpen their mind, look at the
world differently and solve problems.