February 22, 2017
St. Mary’s University pulled off a clean sweep at the National Collegiate Leadership Conference (NCLC) Case Study Competition last week.
Greehey School of Business teams took first, second and third place at the national case competition Feb. 17-19 at the University of Arizona. Greehey Scholars Kimberly Rodriguez, Alex Gavin, Samuel Santos and Aime Navarette-Reyes won first place.
The second-place team included Hannah Odom, Paige Weiss, Maria Barragan and Allison Dauphine. Professor of Marketing Mathew Joseph, Ph.D., coached the team.
Third place went to a team of freshmen: Greehey Scholars Julia Kheiv, Benjamin Hoffman, Ryan Smith and Rudy Martinez.
But that’s not all St. Mary’s students accomplished at the competition. Greehey Scholar Guillermo Avelar also earned recognition and won a Best Presentation award.
“We were so excited. The teams were so successful because they used the comments and questions from the judges in the preliminary round to make their presentations even stronger and did so in a professional manner,” said Suzanne Oliva, J.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Accounting. “The teams from the Greehey School of Business and the Greehey Scholars Program are well prepared to handle the pressures of a collegiate competition. They often give oral presentations in their classes to refine these skills.”
The teams worked hard during the week to formulate innovative solutions to the case study problem, said Oliva, who helped prepare the students for the competition.
The NCLC is an annual, student-run conference that provides leadership training for hundreds of college students across the nation.