College dominates at Business Competition

NEWS RELEASE - OKANAGAN COLLEGE

April 12, 2011

 

Take two teams of four Okanagan College Business Administration students, ask them to operate an imaginary airline in competition with students from four other B.C. colleges and the results will give lift to Okanagan College’s continued record of success at the B.C. Business Simulation Competition.

 

Okanagan College’s sophomore and senior teams won top prizes in their categories at the 22^nd version of Simulation Competition, which was held at the College’s Kelowna campus in late March. Okanagan College’s senior team was comprised of Haley Ryan, Vanessa Wittel, Jonny Webber, and Robert McEwen. Amanda Blanchard, Meghan Hidber, Kyle Yakiwchuk and Lingjun Zhao were the members of the sophomore team.

 

Last year, at the Business Simulation Competition, the College team won 14 of 16 possible gold medals. This year, the teams won four of ten gold medals and two silver medals.  Beside the two top team medals, Okanagan College students won:

• Gold medal, Top Communications (senior team)
• Gold Medal, Top Financial Manager – Vanessa Wittel
• Silver Medal, Top HR Manager – Jonny Webber
• Silver Medal, Top CEO, Vanessa Wittel
• Bronze Medal, Top Marketing Manager – Haley Ryan

 

The College of the Rockies’ junior team was also awarded a gold medal in their category of the competition as a top team.

 

“I’m glad that at OC we have dedicated professors, deans and students who are willing to give their time for what appears to outsiders to merely be an extra-curricular activity,” says Wittel. “By running an airline, we felt the stress of decisions that would impact the company years into the future but we also learned the satisfaction that comes when a team can work harmoniously to create a fantastic end product.  I experienced team work at its best.”

 

Gold medal in the Top CEO category was awarded to Kathleen Semple, of Langara College, while Kyle Blakeney of Camosun College won bronze. Blythe Pearce of Langara College was honored as the Top HR Manager, while Dustin Gottas, of College of the Rockies (COTR) was given the bronze medal for his efforts. Top Marketing Manager was Charlene Winter of the University of Fraser Valley (UFV), and Scott Tracey of COTR was the silver medal finalist. Semple also won gold as top operations manager, while Blakeny won silver, and Mike Wood, of UFV captured bonze. The silver medal in Top Financial Manager went to Ellen Dragushan of Camosun College, while Andy Chou of Langara won bronze.

 

“I am always amazed at the level of effort put forth by these students,” observes Okanagan College Professor and coach Michael Orwick.  “Competing in these events is over and above the normal workload of the semester, yet somehow they are able to fit all the preparation and performance required in and around their mid-terms and projects that are due from other classes.”

 

“While the competitions measure many specific skills, some of the greatest values participants receive are in soft skills such as teamwork, conflict resolution, personality recognition, and mutual support,” Orwick notes.

 

“The simulation was one of the best experiences I had in my post secondary career,” says OC’s Haley Ryan. “Our coach Allan Rice offered creativity and encouraged me to work at a whole new level of thinking. Mike Orwick gave us passion and the ability build on ideas. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with two masterminds of business. They helped me refine my skill set and prepare me for my career. This competition was the most beneficial and rewarding learning experience of my business degree.”

 

The BC Business Simulation competition is open to degree and diploma teams from colleges and universities across B.C. and Alberta. This year, the teams of four were asked to pilot small regional airlines through a host of decisions that covered marketing, operations, human resources and finances and accounting. Making a series of decisions and presentations that imitates a year’s worth of business activity (compressed into three days of real-time), the teams are judged by business people who assess performance in 21 areas.

 

The competition is sponsored by the Certified General Accountants of British Columbia, the Certified Management Accounts of BC, and the Chartered Accountants of British Columbia, as well as Interpretive Simulations and B.C. Hydro.