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Business Administration: 2018 Marketing and Accounting Winning Teams!
Business Administration at Vanier is Tops! Marketing and Accounting students win Gold and Silver at National and Provincial Case Competitions
While the rest of the room burst into cheers, they could hardly speak when they heard the words "And the first place for the 2018 Vanier College BDC Case Challenge goes to Vanier College!" For Business Administration – Marketing students, Isaiah Paul Cole, Isabella Mirasola, Dylan Papineau and Krystal Milo, it was a dream come true - to win gold against 26 other teams from across Canada. Krystal in particular had been aiming for gold from the moment she first volunteered at the Vanier College BDC Case Challenge in her first year of cegep studies.
"My heart was racing and we all looked at each other as Peter our coach ran up to us with tears in his eyes," says Dylan.
A few months later, they had another victory, when the same Marketing team earned Second Place honours at the 2018 Dawson College Case Competition.
What is a case competition?
In a case competition, participants are isolated in a room and must analyze a never-seen before business problem in three hours, draw up a viable marketing plan, and prepare a Power Point presentation to give before a jury panel of experts from business, industry and education. Competitors need to be in top-notch shape if they are to maintain a clear head and put their creativity to work to come up with a plan that addresses the needs of the problem under study.
What they got out of the Case Challenge experience
"The Vanier BDC Case Challenge helped lay out the foundation for my future. I enjoy doing this and wouldn't mind continuing doing it," says Krystal. Preparation for the competition starts long before the contest itself. All through the first semester of their third year, students in a marketing class study marketing cases and prepare presentations on those cases and the solutions they propose.
Choosing Vanier
How did this Fabulous-4 get to Vanier and to Marketing? Isaiah who graduated from Riverdale High school applied to Vanier because he wanted to pursue football and business. He started out in Social Science with Mathematics, but a second semester class in macroeconomics caught his attention. He liked it so much he decided to switch into Business Administration – Marketing.
Dylan claims he was just lucky. He didn't really know Vanier and had not planned on attending cegep at all but rather thought of going straight into an American university. But he did apply and was accepted into Marketing. "It was great," Dylan claims. "I was able to do an internship in France with a real estate agent in Belfort and compete with the Vanier BDC team!"
Isabella chose Vanier because it was convenient. But she too was thrilled to do a 6-week internship in France working on Fimu, a well-known music festival in Belfort.
As for Krystal, she always knew she wanted to study business and eventually open her own dance studio. While she visited other cegeps, they fell short. "I didn't like their architecture or their environment. But Vanier was super helpful and friendly, so it was my first choice!
What's good about the Business Administration program?
"The connections and the real friends you make!" declares Isaiah. "The smaller size," says Dylan. "It dilutes the crowd down to a tight-knit group who feel the same way about the program as you and who share your life." For Krystal it's the life-long friends she feels she made in the program. For Isabella it's the strong relationship with teachers with whom contact is easy for help and for discussing and planning the future.
Isaiah adds, "Teachers are always trying to develop the program and improve the learning experience of students. And because they all have a business background they relate their teaching to their own experience." Krystal says, "Teachers share their passion about learning and about the subjects they teach and it inspires students to be passionate about learning. They see us as the next generation of marketers and they want to make sure we are ready for the real world."
University plans
All four students are at Concordia University now. Isaiah is in the Marketing/Real Estate Co-op program; Isabella in International Business; Dylan in the Marketing Co-op with a minor in Digital Analysis – data intelligence; and Krystal is working on a Major in Marketing Degree.
Hats off to the Vanier the AccountingTeam – Silver winners in the Dawson Finance Case Competition
The other stars of the Business Administration Program are the members of the Vanier Accounting Team: Victoria Palermo, Jonathan Paniccia, Krista Forget and Amgad Morgan from the Vanier Business Administration – Accounting program. They placed second at the 2018 Dawson College Case Competition – a competition where the Vanier Accounting team has placed in the top three almost every year since it started.
What is an Accounting Case Competition
During the Finance competition, students have three hours to prepare a full business and financial analysis using financial ratios as well as industry benchmark ratios. Based on the results of this financial analysis the team must outline a plan of action and implementation for the company in question. They are then given 20 minutes in which to present their case using a PowerPoint slide presentation before a panel of industry judges and professional accountants.
"Of what use is classroom-focused education if it cannot be applied?" says Anna Schiavi, Accounting Teacher and Team coach. "Taking knowledge from the classroom and applying it is the ultimate confidence booster to any student. This is what preparing and competing in the Dawson Case Competition offered to the Vanier Business Administration Accounting Case Team."
With zero prior knowledge of how to put together a case presentation for an annual report of a Canadian company the team jumped into head- first. They trained for 12-weeks with a minimum of 5 hours per week. Training is an extracurricular activity that takes place outside of class time. In preparing for the case competition the Vanier Accounting team took on a task way out of their comfort zone. And the hard work and persistence paid off as the Vanier Accounting team prepared and presented a university-grade case before a panel of industry judges, a presentation that earned the team a 2nd place podium spot at the Dawson Case Competition.
"Our teacher was great," they all declare. "Everything Anna said would happen, did. So we were super well prepared!"
Internships in France
However, there was barely time to rest on their laurels, because four days after the competition, team members flew off for 6-week internships in France. Some went to Paris and Belfort as well as other cities all over the country where they do internships with some of the biggest and best companies in France. It's another advantage of the Business Administration Program. Every year, a dozen Accounting and Marketing students head off for France in May to do their final program internship abroad.
Without doubt, between case competitions and international experiences, these students are very well prepared to enter the business world or continue their university studies.
Advice to incoming students
Get involved! Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid to make mistakes!
Enjoy Cegep. Look at your long-term goals. It doesn't all happen at once.
Don't be discouraged. It's a 3-year program, you have time to discover new things.
Do Secondary 4 and 5 high level maths! Don't let anyone tell you that you don't need it for your program. Do it! It will keep your options open for the future beyond your Cegep program.
Make a plan. Self educate. A lot of things aren't learned in school.
Business Administration Marketing & Accounting Competition Winners 2018