When the countdown started, Goodman students had only 20 minutes to showcase the more than four months of training and practice they put into preparing for one of the largest business school case competitions in Canada.

The JDC Central competition, which has been nicknamed the “business school Olympics,” saw 550 students from 11 universities across Ontario, Québec and Nova Scotia faceoff in academic cases in nine business disciplines, parliamentary-style debates, sports tournaments, a social competition and a charity component at Brock University from Jan. 3 to 5.

The practice and persistence paid off for Sam Farberman who was named Goodman JDC Central delegate of the year. His team, including Manvir Brar and Monica Upadhyay, took home first place in the Wild Card case competition. But for the fifth-year finance student from Edmonton, Alta., it wasn’t about titles or accolades.

“It’s about being part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” Farberman said. “You all work so hard and go through a unique experience together that you end up learning a lot outside of your degree.”

For the Wild Card case, the team had 96 hours to prepare their recommendations for Sat Yuga Life, a line of luxury artisan skincare and wellness products. The team impressed the owner of the company with their proposal and have a follow-up meeting booked with her to further discuss their plan and implementation at the end of January.

In addition to his contributions on the Finance and Wild Card case teams, Farberman logged 100 hours of volunteer time during the fall semester which contributed towards the Goodman team’s total.

Accounting Case winners Besma Matar, Faculty Advisor Lewis Stevenson, Harshita Santha and Urooj Manzoor.

Wilfrid Laurier University took home both the Academic Cup and School of the Year title. Goodman’s delegation of 45 students placed second in participation and second in the prestigious School of the Year category. In the academic cases, Goodman’s Accounting and Wild Card case teams placed first while the Digital Strategy team took home second. The School’s quickball team came third, with the sports team receiving the overall team sportsmanship award.

Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes spoke to student delegates at the closing banquet and encouraged them to find their purpose.

“You are brilliant people, energized high-achievers, wherever you go you will do well,” Gaudes said. “But what I want you to find is purpose. The deans, faculty and staff of your business schools should be working very hard to help you find your purpose.”

“Your job as successful graduates of business programs is to go out and make a positive change.”

Goodman’s Student Leadership Coordinator Lauren Smith was a co-organizer of the event and said the timing with the School’s new building was perfect to showcase the space to the other business schools.

“Hosting JDC Central was something I wanted to do after seeing how hard our students worked the last few years representing our School at this competition,” Smith said.

“This event couldn’t have happened without the support of our Goodman and campus colleagues in custodial, catering, security, audio visual services and conference services who ensured we were ready to welcome delegates at 5 a.m. each morning. We are so grateful for their assistance.”

Goodman students who made the podium were:

• Accounting (1^st): Besma Matar, Urooj Manzoor and Harshita Santha
• Wilcard (1^st): Manvir Brar, Sam Farberman and Monica Upadhyay
• Digital Strategy (2^nd): Sukhwinder Gill, Jayna Sutaria and Roshanth Thulasiram
• Sports Team (3^rd in Quickball and team sportsmanship) – Justin Dilgert, Lucas Di Nardo, Luis Macias Gutierrez, Zain Ibrahim, Chris Kislinsky, Monica MacDonald, Cassandra Plute and Nicole Smith