Winners of the Simon Scholars Case Competition 2013
Written by Justine Rumbel, Assistant Director, Admissions
And the winners are . . .
Congratulations to all of our Simon Scholars Case Competition participants! On Sunday, February 17, we welcomed thirty-one students to campus for our first undergraduate Simon Scholars Case Competition. We modeled this event after the Simon Graduate School of Business Early Leaders Case Competition for current college students across the globe. It was certainly exciting to see a younger group of competitors working and presenting together on a level equivalent to that of current graduate business students. For that, we should congratulate all of the students who came.
The Simon Scholars committee has selected six winners based on the judges’ score sheets, peer evaluations, our interactions with all competitors, and the competitors’ general applications for admission. Although it was a very challenging selection process, the result consists of one winning team and a few individuals for distinguishing themselves throughout the event. Believe me when I say this was no easy task.
For their collaborative skills, innovative ideas, and excellent responses to judges' questions, the team winner for the Case Competition is Team G!
L to R: Kenzo Esquivel (Aurora, IL), Kathryn Van der Sloot (Pittsford, NY), Shomik Ghosh (Clarks Summit, PA)
Team G received the highest judges’ scores across the board, which is an impressive feat since they were the only three-person team. Unbeknownst to the judges, Team G encountered the most technical difficulties during the previous day’s working hours, and their presentation was postponed an additional five minutes. (Judges have bladders too, you know!) They were also one of the last groups to present to a tired panel of judges. Despite all of this, no additional accommodations were made for their team, and their presentation was still the best in show. They worked through any obstacles and showed skilled collaboration from the first time they met all through their presentation only 24 hours later.
An honorable mention goes out to Team A for being the second highest scoring team to present.
We chose three additional individuals as Simon Scholars winners for their contributions, preparation, and communication throughout the event. While almost every participant came prepared with ideas and their own research on the case provided two weeks in advance, the question they needed to answer was provided only 24 hours prior to their presentation. In those 24 hours, participants depended on their own decision-making skills, assertiveness, and collaborative strengths to hone all of those ideas into a fifteen-minute presentation.
After much deliberation, the Simon Scholars Committee is giving the individual Simon Scholars Award to:
INDIVIDUAL WINNERS
Jacob Dennie from Indianapolis, IN (Team A)
William Mellon from Bradford, PA (Team C)
Michael Sportiello from Brookfield, WI (Team D)
Additionally, we have six runners-up whom the judges and committee recognized for their excellent presentation skills, preparation and collaboration, and entrepreneurial ideas:
INDIVIDUAL RUNNERS-UP
Jennifer Lee from Spencerport, NY (Team A)
Joshua Wolfgang from Stowe, VT (Team B)
Rebecca Schwartz from Bronx, NY (Team B)
Sydney Exler from Rockville, MD (Team E)
Zhengqi (Lilly) Zeng from China, by way of Boise, ID (Team F)
Nicholas Schumacher from Zanesville, OH (Team F)
Thanks to our wonderful judges (professors, business students, and alums) who are no strangers to judging case competitions for the Simon Graduate School of Business. Their expertise in many fields of business through industry and teaching is a fantastic resource for our incoming business undergraduates.
L to R sitting: Alexandre David (Business Major Peer Advisor), Jane Todd Ross (Simon School, MBA ’85; Assistant Dir. of Admissions), George Cook (Executive Professor of Marketing), Ran “Bonnie” Bi (Business Manager Peer Advisor), Paulo Albuquerque (Associate Professor of Marketing)
(And that’s me standing!)
Not pictured: Carla Mattioli, Event Coordinator (she’s camera shy)