Written by Justine Rumbel, Assistant Director, Admissions
And the winners are…
Congratulations to all of our Simon Scholars Case Competition participants! On Sunday February 9, we welcomed 38 students to campus for our second annual Simon Scholars Case Competition. This event was modeled after the Early Leaders Case Competition held by the Simon Graduate School of Business for current college students around the world. One thing that excites me most about this event is seeing high school seniors working and presenting together on a level equivalent to that of current college students. While almost every participant came prepared with ideas and their own research on the case provided one month in advance, the question they needed to answer was provided upon their arrival only 24 hours prior to their presentation. In those 24 hours, they depended on their own decision-making skills, assertiveness, and collaborative strengths to hone all of those ideas into a professional fifteen-minute presentation. For that, we should congratulate all of the students who were selected to participate and gave it their best.
I’m proud to announce that we have seven winners of the 2014 Simon Scholars competition consisting of one team and three individual winners. Selection was based on the judges’ score sheets, peer evaluations, our interactions with all competitors throughout the two-day event and beyond, and their general applications for admission and the Simon Scholars program. Believe me when I say this was no easy task.
The team winners for the Case Competition for their collaborative skills, innovative ideas, and excellent responses to judge questions was Team E!
L to R: Brendan Chin of Needham, MA; Tyler Weiss of York, PA; Simran Marwah of Pittsford, NY; Rylan Blowers of Canandaigua, NY
Team E received the highest scores from the judges across the board for their business strategy, strong presentation skills, and their thoughtful responses to the judges’ questions. Their collaboration skills were as evident in their presentation as they were when their team met for the first time only 24 hours earlier.
Here’s Rylan and Brendan psyching themselves up for their presentation, sharing a set of ear buds and listening to the Kenny Loggins song, “Danger Zone” from Top Gun.
Three additional individuals were also recognized by the judges and chosen as Simon Scholars winners for their contributions, application responses, and communication throughout the event. After much deliberation, the Simon Scholars Committee give the individual Simon Scholars Award to:
- Ravi Doshi from Kingston, ON (Team D)
- Nirupama Muralidharan from Cleveland, OH (Team D)
- Brianna Washington from Fayetteville, GA (Team C)
We additionally have eight runners-up who, although are not Simon Scholars winners, were recognized by the judges and Simon Scholars Committee for their excellent presentation skills, preparation, and collaboration. Honorable mentions go to:
- Jean Wolfs (Team B)
- Asad Muhammad (Team B)
- Shuizening Li (Team C)
- Sarthak Haribhakt (Team H)
- Nse Obot (Team F)
- Ariana Scarfone (Team F)
- Koonj Vekaria (Team H)
- Rhiannon Farney (Team A)
Congratulations, everyone!
And finally, thanks to our wonderful judges: a professor, a business advisor, a business student, 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 are fantastic resources for our incoming business undergraduates.
L to R: Paulo Albuquerque (associate professor of marketing); Hillary Brower (undergraduate business major advisor); Alexandre David (business major peer advisor); Jane Todd Ross (Simon School, MBA ’85; Assistant Director of Admissions); and that’s me standing!
Not pictured: Carla Mattioli (event coordinator); maybe one of these years she’ll let me get her in a picture!
To learn more about the Simon Scholars competition from a current student’s perspective, check out a blog post by our 2013 winner, Kate Van Der Sloot.