Justin Enns has spent eight short months at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, but he already has his name in Goodman’s trophy case after bringing home a plaque from an international business competition.

Along with nine other students, the first-year BBA Dual Degree student traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete at DECA’s International Career Development Conference April 16-19 and together they returned with 15 medals and one plaque.

Enns, who competed at DECA’s high school levels through regional and provincial competitions, was excited by the opportunity to continue his experience with DECA in university through the Goodman DECA chapter.

After competing at DECA’s provincial competition in January this year along with 49 of his colleagues, he was chosen to represent the Goodman School of Business internationally, an opportunity reserved for a select number of Goodman students each year.

Enns was successful in Washington, winning three medals in the first two competition rounds and then placing second overall in his category of retail management.

The international competition sees approximately 1,000 business students from all over the U.S. and Canada competing in several academic areas: business management and administration, entrepreneurship, finance and accounting, hospitality and tourism and marketing and communications.

The competition puts students’ business acumen to the test by requiring them to read and analyze a short case or business problem and come up with a recommendation and implementation plan, all within 30 minutes. Students assume the role of a manager or company executive and present to a judge for 15 minutes and write an exam that tests their academic knowledge of their chosen category.

“I learned critical thinking, how to problem solve quickly and rationally in a high stress situation, how to think on my feet, and how to speak confidently through DECA,” Enns said. “There is very little that DECA does not test of you.”

Enns credits his success to the training that Goodman DECA provided, explaining that he was trained on all business streams which benefitted him greatly in the competition.

“Instead of only specializing in my category, I was able to bring in human resource management, marketing and finance concepts into my presentation which made my recommendation much stronger,” he said.

Enns, who chose Brock for its unique BBA Dual Degree program in the Goodman School of Business, has no regrets from his first year.

“First year has been an incredible experience. I am extremely happy with living in residence, with the clubs I joined and the intramurals that I played, and I know business is the right program for me. The opportunities I’ve been given are amazing,” he said. 

Goodman DECA awards

• Zaman Dubey: preliminary round finalist and top 10 finalist (Business Ethics)
• Justin Enns: preliminary round finalist (top written exam score), top 10 finalist, second place overall (Retail Management)
• Nick Hollard: preliminary round finalist and top 10 finalist (Business Ethics)
• Yvonne Huynh: preliminary round finalist (top written exam score, top role play score), top 10 finalist (Retail Management)
• Robert Mandru: preliminary round finalist and top 10 finalist (International Business)
• Nicholas Nuamah: preliminary round finalist and top 10 finalist (International Business)

Conversations with Goodman host Susan LeBlanc talks to BBA student Steven Simons, incoming president of Goodman DECA, about his experience at the International Career Development Conference and his plans for the upcoming year.