By Brooke Schultz
News Editor
After a couple weeks of preparation and a morning of getting ready, three Washington College students were tasked with summing up their knowledge of the economy in just a few seconds.
Under the glare of studio lights, senior Audrey Utchen, juniors Graham Hulsey and Samson Ramasamy, and graduate and Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Preston Cooper, were interviewed by CNBC’s Rick Santelli about America’s fiscal health.
The segment was a part of “Santelli Exchange: Debt and America’s Youth” and opened with Santelli gesturing to a mop. “You see this? This is a mop. And all the generations, including mine, are leaving young people a real mess,” he said. “And I want to know who’s going to end up mopping it all up.”
Utchen was approached by Gina Ralston, director of campus events, to be one of those students who got to weigh in.
“I love learning about the economy and I have a knack for it,” she said. “So I did a lot of research about our national debt itself and really looked at, not only the government websites, but also looked at Forbes, CNNMoney, Wall Street Journal. [I] did some research on our national debt the way it is, and what the potential deficits could be with the two different candidates before the election happened,” she said.
Ramasamy was approached by Associate Professor of Economics Dr. Adalbert Mayer around the same time as Utchen. “As far as prepping goes, Professor Lynch talked to us about some history about the national debt, some questions we can come up with, and things to think about so we had something prepared before the interview,” he said.
After gathering the information, Utchen said, it came down to practicing.
“I’m lucky enough that, through this job [Student Government Association President], I do a lot of talking, so I wasn’t too nervous,” she said. “Obviously, I’ve never had the opportunity to be on CNBC before, and I’ve seen Rick Santelli on TV all the time. So having the opportunity to be on TV with him was great. I was more nervous to be on TV with him than to just be on TV.”
Ramasamy said he was a bit nervous before the broadcast, too. “But because we all knew what we wanted to say beforehand; it wasn’t too bad. I think it went well, and after I saw the video, I’m happy with how it went.”
From 10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 14, the students were in hair and makeup, prepping with each other and Santelli himself until it was time for the live broadcast to air. Utchen said, “Really just going over, ‘Okay, we have about three minutes, we’re going to each talk about a little bit about the national debt.’ Then Rick, being his own character himself, he pulled out all the little nuances he does and made it great.”