What was initially supposed to be a growth year for one of Goodman’s largest competition teams has turned into their most successful yet, bringing home a record medal haul at the recent DECA U provincial championships.

More than 1,300 students from 20 universities and colleges across the Ontario competed in the fast-paced event, held Jan. 17 to 19 in Toronto. The competition puts students’ analytical and communication skills to the test in several business categories that mimic real-life situations they will face in the workplace.

The Goodman DECA team is made up of 60 students and 70 per cent of the team were first time delegates this year, said Club President Nimrat Brar. Together, the team captured 24 medals in individual and team competition.

“We initially planned for this to be a growth year for our club that would hopefully start the competition bug in new delegates,” Brar said. “I’m so proud of the effort everyone on the team put in and the amount of support they had for each other leading up to the competition.”

Students competed individually and as teams, with individuals only getting 15 minutes to prepare for their 10-minute presentation, and teams receiving 30 minutes to review the material and prepare their 15-minute case presentation.

With such a tight competition window, the key to success is preparation, says Brar. The team spent more than 260 hours doing mock cases with peers and video mocks to assess their own performance.

“The process really builds confidence in yourself,” she said. “You are forced every week to grow and improve yourself and your public speaking abilities.”

Next, 16 delegates from the team will head to the international level of competition at DECA Collegiate’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) event in Atlanta, GA., April 22 to 25. The conference will give students the opportunity to network and compete against more than 1,500 students from across North America.

The Goodman DECA executive team also includes Amani Ahmad, Ashley Harold, Bill Huynh, Kaitlyn Minnett and Sukhwinder Gill. The team would like to thank Herb MacKenzie, Associate Professor of Marketing, and Lauren Smith, Goodman’s Student Leadership Coordinator, for their support in helping prepare the team for competition.

The following teams received medals for their final award standings in their categories:

• First place in Business Law: Sam Farberman and Amani Ahmad
• Second place in Marketing Management: Manpriya Arora and Srushti Rajgopal
• Third place in SEED (entrepreneurship pitch): Matthew Reid

The following students received medals for placing in the Top 5 of their individual categories:

• Accounting: Aman Juthani (case 1 and case 2), first place overall
• Corporate Finance: Liana Biktimirova (case 1), third place overall
• Corporate Finance: Manvir Brar (case 1 and case 2), first place overall
• Corporate Finance: Angelo Pirrera (case 2)
• Fashion and Retail Management: Martina Cutruzzola (case 1 and case 2), first Place Overall
• Human Resources Management: Chris Kislinsky (case 2)
• Management Consulting: Kolton Leung (case 1)
• Management Consulting: Sukhwinder Gill (case 1)
• Restaurant and Food Services Management: Simon Denford (case 1), second place overall
• Restaurant and Food Services Management: Shruti Parikh (case 2)
• Travel Management: Nimrat Brar (case 2)