TFAS’s high school division, the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE), recently wrapped up their most successful summer to date. With over 2,100 students and teachers participating in this year’s programs, it was a record-breaking summer for FTE. During these week-long programs, participants learned the economic way of thinking on domestic and global issues while honing their leadership skills.

This summer, 1,111 high school students gained the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the ever-changing economic landscape by learning how to implement economic reasoning in their decision-making process. Led by renowned professors, mentor teachers and guest speakers, students engaged in practical activities and simulations that offered real-world experiences. Along the way, they developed their leadership skills and forged lasting friendships.

Students Learn Leadership Skills

Aditi Gandhi was one of many students this summer who gained a new perspective on economics while participating in an Economics for Leaders (EFL) virtual session.

“Participating in EFL has provided me with deeper insights into the complexities of this beautiful subject,” Gandhi said. “Exploring textbook topics through fascinating, gamified methods alongside real-world applications has profoundly shaped my perspective on the remarkable field of economics.”

FTE hosted 28 weeklong student programs: Economics for Leaders, Entrepreneurship in Global Economy and Environment & The Economy at various campus locations across the country. Program sites included:

• Rice University
• Yale University
• William & Mary
• UC Berkeley
• University of Virginia
• Boston College
• UCLA
• and more

FTE also hosted numerous virtual sessions. For FTE alumni looking to take their experience to the next level, FTE hosted the Alumni Leadership Academy at American University in Washington, D.C., Students learned to apply economic reasoning principles to historical analysis and leadership dilemmas. The cohort explored history, government policy and budgeting, leadership and economics all while also visiting national museums, monuments and attending a TFAS Capitol Hill Lecture alongside collegiate TFAS students and Washington interns.

FTE alumnus Kenneth Shen attended the Alumni Leadership Academy at American University, where he was able to enhance his leadership skills.

“The Alumni Leadership Academy challenged my leadership values, and I had to define what leadership meant to me,” Shen said. “The program reinforced economics-based thinking in our world and concepts that relate to everyday life. It brought awareness to the Economic Reasoning Propositions that revolve around the markets.”

Teaching the Teachers

This summer, teachers looking to gain hands-on skills and revamp their classrooms attended FTE’s teacher programs. Teachers learned how to incorporate activity-based lessons into their classes while enhancing their expertise in the field through in-depth lectures taught by university professors and experienced mentor teachers. FTE brought forth lessons plans to cover various topics, such as international trade, the federal budget, and the realities of socialism with ready-made materials, enabling teachers to confidently implement interactive activities in their own classrooms.

During the programs, teacher participants networked and collaborated with fellow educators, providing an opportunity to share their experiences. FTE hosted 48 programs this summer on relevant topics including: Economic Issues for Teachers, Economics for Teachers, Environment & the Economy, Economic Forces in American History, Right Start in Teaching Economics and Clean Energy: How Do We Get There and At What Cost? and Socialism: Myths vs. Realities at universities throughout the country as well as online. The Socialism: Myths vs. Realities curriculum was developed in partnership with the Fraser Institute in Canada.

Hope Grossman Devore, a teacher from New York City, shared the impact of participating in the FTE student-teacher program in Dallas, Texas.

“I think it’s important for teachers to participate in FTE programs in order to have hands on conversations and debriefs about strategies that are really difficult to teach,” Devore said. “FTE provides easy simulations to break down difficult concepts, and that’s why I come to these FTE programs.”

According to teacher evaluations, overwhelmingly and consistently, across the programs executed this year, participants praised:

• FTE instructors for their commitment to both the ideas and the courses, their enthusiasm, their ability to inject energy into online teaching and their engagement with students;
• FTE programming content for its timeliness, relevance and clarity;
• FTE programs for enhancing the participants’ understanding of the importance of critical thinking and the ability to apply that to present policy issues and gain a historical understanding of economic events and systems

TFAS is proud to have nearly 30,000 alumni of its high school and teacher programs. To view upcoming in-person and virtual student and teacher programs and webinars and learn more about TFAS High School Program, visit FTE.org.