Katherine Dopulos
Monclair, NJ
Dopulos was on the national championship team for the Euro Challenge, a competition for public high school freshmen and sophomores.
In the Euro Challenge, teams consisting of five students debate the advantages and drawbacks of adopting the European Union’s common currency, the Euro. “Each team then picks one country that has adopted the Euro and explores an issue that has occurred with the introduction of the common currency in their country,” says Dopulos. The teams then present their issue to judges in various business and government positions in the European Union.
“My freshman year, I was put on the team despite not knowing a thing about economics,” Dopulos says. “When we competed again in my sophomore year I helped guide the freshmen on the team, as I knew what they were going through.”
Dopulos’ team chose Spain and explored issues related to the housing bubble and high inflation. “My breakthrough moment, though, was during the semi-final round,” says Dopulos. The judging panel her team was slated to present to included Ubaldo Gonzalez, the Spanish Finance Minister and Ambassador to the U.S.
“His title had us jittery, of course, because he was an expert in the country we were presenting on,” Dopulos says. As her team was presenting its solutions, including privatizing energy markets to increase competition, creating jobs and stifling inflation, she says, “Ubaldo stopped us. He said, ‘Do you really think that will work?’ There I was, presenting a major change to a person that could implement it, at the age of 15.” Dopulos’ team went on to win the competition that year.