Rainmakers take top prize in Business Case competition
1/20/2014 4:27:10 PM
College of the North Atlantic held its annual Business Case competition on Jan. 17-18. Members of the winning team, Rainmakers, from Grand Falls-Windsor campus are, from left: Holly Pinsent of Edmonton, Kevin Oberholster of South Africa, Stephanie Whelan of Bishop Falls and Sacha Curlew of St. Anthony.
Team Rainmakers from Grand Falls-Windsor campus took first place in College of the North Atlantic’s annual Business Case competition this past weekend. The competition included six teams from CNA, one from the college’s Distributed Learning Service and another from College of the North Atlantic-Qatar.
Students were challenged in a round robin case competition event from Friday to Saturday and the event concluded with a final round, with winning teams announced at the awards banquet Saturday evening. The competition was an excellent learning opportunity as the students had to think quickly under stressful situations and were challenged by two panels of industry judges on business solutions and strategies.
Winning team members of Rainmakers are third-year Business Management (Marketing) student Kevin Oberholster of South Africa, second-year Business Management (Human Resources) student Sacha Curlew of St. Anthony, and first-year Business Management students Holly Pinsent of Edmonton, Alberta and Stephanie Whelan of Bishop Falls.
“(It was) one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” said Oberholster of the competition.
Her teammate echoed that sentiment.
“One of the most stressful weekends, but most beneficial,” added Whelan. “I learned a lot.”
Second place was awarded to team RockSolid, also from Grand Falls-Windsor campus, while third place went to Distributed Learning team 709 Solutions.
Mary Vaughan, the college’s Dean of Business and Information Technology, says the calibre of the students’ work was exceptional and faculty member support was appreciated by all participants as always.
“All the students are to be congratulated for their high level of knowledge, critical thinking, innovative ideas and exceptional team skills that were demonstrated under stressful situations,” said Vaughan.
“I am amazed each year by the growth that I see in the students and the stories they share of how this competition has impacted them. The experience from this competition is one they will remember for many years to come. Congratulations to all the students. You showed the courage to compete and pushed yourselves out of your comfort zones.”
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Media Contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709.643.6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca