Generation €uro Students’ Award 2018; Credit: European Central Bank

The St George’s Year 13 Economic students have won the 7th edition of the Generation €uro Students’ Award in 2018, a competition of the European Central Bank (ECB) on monetary policy in the euro area.

The students were invited to the ECB’s headquarters in Frankfurt to attend the award ceremony with the ECB’s President, Mario Draghi, and central bank governors.

This year over 1,500 teams from all over Europe registered for the competition and 211 teams were selected to represent international and European Schools. The jury of ECB experts selected the St George’s team, ‘The invisible Hand’ as the overall winner.

As part of the winning team, St George’s student, Mykola M commented on the overall experience, "We had an amazing time participating in the competition ... it forced us to learn economics on a deeper level and personally I understand it better, it also enabled us to appreciate all the work that the ECB does... As a group of young, motivated and ambitious Europeans, meeting the men and women who helped facilitate growth and certain ty in the economy so that we have better chance of achieving our goals and dreams has really been an honour."

Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, said in his opening speech "We count on you [the students] to embark on this long journey: we invite you to be our ambassadors, to continue the conversation on Europe in your schools and cities, with your relatives and friends. You will have an important role to play in tomorrow’s Europe, but that role, that responsibility, starts today. You give us not only hope for a better future, but you also inspire us to continue our work. We should be the ones to be thankful to you."

Opportunities like this are hugely beneficial for our students, both from an educational perspective and also in terms of personal development.