2026 High School Winners

Kevin Shu and Rohan Ragupathy are 11th graders at Trumbull High School in Trumbull, Connecticut. After learning about monopsonies in their favorite class, AP Economics, and because Rohan was on the lookout for competitions, the pair felt the World of 8 Billion contest was the perfect opportunity for them. Throughout the research process, they realized they wanted to focus on a country that was deeply affected by monopsonies. They decided on Nigeria because much of its population is under 30 and the country had experienced market failure due to oil. Kevin recalled that he was “particularly surprised that there was a 17% decrease in wages in Nigeria. Imagine if that were the situation in the United States – that would not be fair to us either.”

Inspired by previous contest winners and stop-motion videos on YouTube, Kevin and Rohan came up with the idea of using the dry-erase board tables at their school to draw images for their video. Both described how the trickiest part of the contest was fitting all the details in their script within the one-minute time frame. Rohan mentioned how “we were trying to add a lot of impressive economics terminology, but at the end of the day, we knew it was more important to streamline and break down the video similar to how our teacher described it in class. We ultimately wanted to make it understandable for the audience.” After filming, they used DaVinci Resolve to edit their video.

Kevin and Rohan plan to make more videos on microeconomics and macroeconomics topics. Outside of the contest, both have busy schedules. Kevin is on the track and field team and part of his school’s FBLA club. Kevin’s DECA group also placed 6th at nationals in the financial literacy area. Rohan plays tennis and assists a local state senator with their campaign to tackle income inequality in nearby neighborhoods. After they graduate, Kevin plans to major in finance, economics, or business. Rohan wants to major in international relations and business with a focus on global affairs and public policy.