Selkirk Students Profit from Business Competition
By Contributor
First and second year students from the Business Administration program at Selkirk College experienced real-life business pressures and friendly rivalry at the fifth annual Business Competition in Castlegar earlier this month.
The Competition was held as an event that brought students and the general public together, while students competed for the best marketing campaign and the best business case scenario.
Students were given three weeks of class time to prepare for the event. Working in teams of 4-6 individuals and using visual aids with various media, first year students publicly presented a marketing campaign for “The Great Outdoors in the Kootenays” in front of a panel of judges at the Castlegar Campus.
Simultaneously, second year teams of students went through a business case scenario that focused on consulting for a nightclub. They also presented and defended their business strategies before a second panel of industry judges.
Business instructor Tiffany Snauwaert was impressed with the calibre of presentations and the community support.
“This is one of the best competitions we have had. We continue to get more community involvement each year and this really encourages the students. It helps them feel like this is an important, meaningful event, which means they work pretty hard on their presentations.”
Judging for the marketing campaign competition was based on evidence of creating national and international awareness of outdoor activities in the Kootenays, as well as a plan to create a media “buzz” about the planned marketing campaign. Judging for the business case scenario competition was based on crafting an effective, innovative, and flexible business strategy for a client.
Winners of the competition enjoyed almost $5,000 in cash, tuition and prizes supplied by the sponsors of the event: Certified General Accountants of BC, Columbia Basin Trust, Firebird Technologies, Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC, Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST), KBS Radio, Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Leo Perra Foundation, Okanagan College, Selkirk College, Thompson Rivers University-Open Learning Division, Trail Chamber of Commerce and Yule Anderson Chartered Accountants. Columbia Power Company sponsored the business luncheon.
First place winners were teams Vertical Earth (first year students Alex Donaldson, Cody Kabatoff, Josh Verigin and Trenton Zoobkoff) and Blue Knight Consulting (second year students Kaitlan Davis, Michelle Duchesneau, Kailee Fergie and Yamei Yang).
Second place teams were West Kootenay Promotions (first year students Katlynn Bachelder, Kris Kolesnikoff, Jenny Latremouille and Gary Lee) and Blue Storm Consultants (second year students Dustin Handley, Jessica McQuarrie and Eric Niehe). Third place winners were Kootenay Air (first year students Franki Lee Bannert, Daina Beattie, Scott Jago, Marlee Kanigan and Steven Lewis) and TimCard Consulting (second year students Kento Hoshino, Steve Maloff, Jeff Verigin and Jason Webster).
First place student for Judge’s Choice was Jeff Ashton and runner-up was Kailee Fergie.
Selkirk College offers two year diplomas in accounting/finance, professional management and office management. For more information on the Business Administration program, call 250-365-7292 ext. 268, or visit www.selkirk.ca/programs/ba.
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