A national championship was not to be, but Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s National Economics Challenge Team is still the king of New Jersey.
Four Bridgewater-Raritan High School sophomores—Neil Parikh, Kartik Khurana, Rahul Kopparapu and Varun Naarayan—competed in the 2026 National Finals of the National Economics Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia, from May 27 through May 29.
But according to Abbe Rubin, the Advisor of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Economics Challenge Club, who also made the trip to Atlanta, the team did not advance to Day 2 in the National Finals.
Four teams per division advanced, and four teams did not, including Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
“They are still state champs and one of the top eight teams in their division in the country. The director told us that over 10,000 students participated in the preliminary round of the competition, and only 64 students in the country made it to the finals in Atlanta (those numbers are for both divisions combined),” Ms. Rubin claimed.
The team earned the right to compete for a national championship as the New Jersey state champion when they represented New Jersey and passed the test in the National Economics Challenge semifinals on Thursday, April 23, during a virtual competition held in Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Library Classroom C.
However, one student who participated in the foursome during the National Economics Challenge and the New Jersey Economics Challenge championship run, junior JianKai Pan, will not make the trip to Atlanta with Rahul, Neil and Kartik.
JianKai, a key contributor to the team’s success, was not able to attend the National Finals and was replaced by Varun for the trip to Atlanta.