After a year of online school, I had definitely lost some of my focus strength. So, even before walking into the first Economics class of Governor’s School I had mentally “checked out.” I sat in the back of the auditorium just thinking about how I was going to play tennis directly after Global Seminar.

When class started I saw an old man with tiny teacher glasses standing in the front of the room. I already painted a picture in my mind: a slow powerpoint with no pictures, just graphs.

The lecture started with “Call me Mike,” and the classic “How is everyone doing with the masks?” However, things got more interesting, fast. Mike tested our creativity and curiosity, asking questions like why are people willing to spend more money on diamonds than water. As we scratched our heads, he described how economics is completely intertwined into our lives: any matter of choice or decision.

The second class got even better. We were able to release all of the pressure bottled up from the previous day. How does Economics impact farm systems? Whether production is surpassing cost when factoring in transportation of goods. How do monopolies impact the consumer? By controlling prices and cutting competition.

I had one question stirring in my head: Economics is such an intangible and abstract study, where would society be if we did not study Economics? If economics suddenly disappeared how fast would we feel the impact if any at all? Mike saw through my question instantly. He knew I did not understand its importance fully and hammered home how choice is in everything we do.

After a week of classes, I now know connections from economics to agriculture and to every other part of my life. I learned a lot, even though I may have slightly embarrassed myself along the way.

-sk