Competing in a virtual environment didn’t stop one of the Goodman School of Business’ largest competition teams from bringing home a record 26 medals at the recent DECA U National Championships.

The DECA Collegiate Competition, held virtually Jan. 14 to 17, brought together top business students to compete in a fast-paced case competition. The competition tested students’ analytical and communication skills in several business categories that mimic real-life situations they may face in the workplace.

The Goodman team was led by co-presidents Manpreet Sandhu and Jessica Foster, who along with their executive team, spent months helping the delegates prepare for the competition.

“The team did tremendously well at the national competition,” said Sandhu. “Seeing them perform with confidence, creativity and professionalism amongst seasoned competitors was truly mesmerizing. I could not have fathomed how successful our chapter was going to be this year.”

The Goodman team was comprised mainly of first- and second-year students and first-time delegates, which made the strong results even more surprising for the club executives and bodes well for the club’s future, she said.

“We have such a young delegate chapter this year, with very few experienced delegates,” Sandhu said. “The tremendous amount of determination, enthusiasm and engagement they showed was more important than any medal count.”

The team thanked Student Leadership Co-ordinator Lauren Smith for her support and Employer Development Manager Venessa Magny for expanding the delegate experience with several workshops with potential employers.

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

• Second place in Debate: Sehaj Deol, Hamza Raja and Griffen Mason
• Third place in International Business: Alexandra Schonewille and Catilin Gratton
• Third place in Sports Entertainment Marketing: Jeff Dai and Curtis Rines

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

• Accounting: Neil Ahuja (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall; Sehaj Deol (Case 2)
• Corporate Finance: Lily Jayakaran (Case 1 and Case 2); Vansh Patel Case 1)
• Human Resource Management: Lam Tran (Case 2), second place overall; Emma Kairys (Case 1 and Case 2), third place overall
• Management Consulting: Mitchell Chan (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall
• Restaurant Food Service Management: Jessica Foster (Case 2)
• Travel Management: Manpreet Sandhu (Case 1 and Case 2), first place overall