Xaverian Year 13 student and budding Economist, Nicholas Youmbi-Youdom, 17, from Openshaw, impressed judges from the Royal Economic Society (RES) in the Young Economist of the Year Competition, by being ranked in the top 25 out of 2000 entries that were submitted from across the UK.
The Competition aims to encourage students in Year 10 to Year 13 in schools and colleges to produce their own ideas in analysing contemporary economic problems facing the UK and the world. Students chose from five topics ranging from ticket prices at gigs and climate change to the economic impact of robots and Artificial Intelligence and Big Tech, and from this had the choice of writing an essay or producing a media piece.
Nicholas commented: “It was my Economics Teacher at Xaverian who suggested I participate in the Competition to begin with. She first introduced me to the subject and gave me the tools I needed to write an outstanding essay. I chose to submit an essay on the question ‘Are high wages for top tier sportspeople justified?’, and I utilised unconventional statistical strategies in order to compare the deserved mess of wages for athletes compared to, say, heart surgeons. In my conclusions, I determined that while some sportspeople do receive the correct level of pay, there is a huge disparity of pay within the sports industry when taking into account the wages of Olympians and other high-level athletes.”
Former pupil of The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury, Nicholas, who is currently studying A Levels in Accounting, Economics, Mathematics and Further Mathematics, continued: “Being at College is such a massive change from high school in the sense that you gain a lot more freedom to manage your own time and there are lots more people your own age. I really enjoy my subjects and find the combination of Mathematics and Economics fascinating as they are developing my skills as well as giving me new knowledge.
“The outcome of the competition has provided me with a major boost in confidence and the motivation to study Economics after Xaverian at the University of Oxford and eventually work as a Trader or Banker as part of the financial services industry.”
Nichola Labrey, Curriculum for Economics at Xaverian College commented: “I’m so proud of what Nicholas has achieved to rank as high as he did in a competition that attracts so many high-quality entries. It’s an amazing achievement and one that will be well-respected by universities and employers and one that will make him stand out when he takes the next step after Xaverian. Nicholas is a talented economist and I’m sure he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do at university and as a career.”
As one of the largest providers of post-16 education in the region, Xaverian College offers an extensive range of A Levels in addition to several BTEC courses. This Is Your Place.
