To say that it was a busy weekend for the Goodman JDCC delegation is an understatement.

Sleep was an afterthought for the team of 47 undergraduate students as their mettle was tested in a flurry of academic case competitions, debate rounds, sports and social challenges over the course of three days (Jan. 8-10) at JDC Central.

The team’s relentless energy paid off though, with all 47 students sharing in the hardware that was brought home to Brock University’s Goodman School of Business. In competition with 13 other business schools, the delegation ranked fourth overall.

Nick Hollard, Shahrukh Iqbal and Julia Wood placed second in entrepreneurship, Joseph Jacob, Jacqueline Kope and Sean Pereira placed second in finance and Chase Anderson, Sean Bouwers, Allison McConnell and Karlo Visaticki placed fourth in debate.

The entire Goodman delegation was also awarded first place in participation, which measures the engagement of the team throughout the competition. The team’s enthusiastic presence at their rivals’ presentations and sports tournaments, their team dance coached by Brock Dance, and their team introduction video produced by BBA student and owner of DroneHub, Bailey Roubos, proved to be a winning combination.

School spirit was not in short supply during the competition, with several Goodman graduates returning to volunteer at the competition either as part of the organizing committee or to work behind the scenes to help make sure the events ran smoothly.

“Seeing alumni return to the competition is a testament to how committed our graduates are to the Goodman School of Business and supporting this year’s team,” says faculty adviser Najlaa Rauf.

Hosted by the Canadian Association of Business Students (CABS), JDC Central is a competition that brings together 700 business students from 14 business schools in Ontario, Québec and the Maritime provinces.

The team, led by co-captains Dayna Stephenson and James Fioretti, godparents Heather Bernie and Srujal Patel and faculty adviser Najlaa Rauf, have been working tirelessly for the past year to build up their skills and co-ordination, putting in 1,200 volunteer hours and raising over $2,700 in charity funds in the process. They relied on support from faculty coaches and alumni who volunteered their time.

“The countless hours put in by each and every delegate has finally paid off,” says Fioretti.

“Dayna and I are so proud of our team and how well they performed. Watching each delegate grow and improve over the past five months has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”