Burnaby School District Case Competition

The Burnaby School District (BSD) Case Competition program was developed by the BCIT School of Business in partnership with the Burnaby School District. The BSD Case Competition program was targeted towards students in grades nine to twelve and was customized for the Summit Program. It consisted of three cases: Prostock Baseball, Burnaby Heights Hats Off Day, and Canadian Tire Driving School. The program was divided into two phases: mentorship and the case competition.

The first phase consisted of members from the BCIT chapters of MPI, MA, and SIFE that went to five different Burnaby High schools: Burnaby North, South, Central, Moscrop, and Cariboo Hill, for a month to provide guidance and answer questions students may have about developing a marketing plan that focuses on an element of the marketing mix: product, place, price, and promotion. The first case, Prostock Baseball, was a non-presentation practice case. For most students it was their first time developing a marketing case, so the focus was on the basics of the case. The second case, Hats Off Day, was a presentation case and was also the connection to phase two of the program, the case competition.

The case competition took place on Nov 17^th at the BCIT Burnaby Campus. It was a full day of hard work that tested the High School students’ ability to work as a cohesive team under tight time pressures. The students were given 45 minutes of practice before they had to deliver their ten minute PowerPoint presentations. The second half of the day consisted of a ten minute presentation from Annika from BC Hydro about sustainability. The students were then given two hours to develop a ten minute presentation that solves the problem stated in the case. The winner of the 2012 Case Study Competition was Burnaby North. Awards were also given out for the best market research, most innovative idea, and most convincing sales pitch.

My experience as the BSD Case Competition Event Coordinator was amazing! My main task was the development and organization of the case competition day for 73 high school students and teachers, ten BCIT mentors, and four judges. Although I developed the schedule and knew it inside and out, I did not know what to expect. It was my first time developing an event of that size with that many stakeholders.  I would definitely have to say with the help of the motivated mentors and BCIT staff it was a great success! I am deeply grateful for all the effort the mentors and BCIT staff have put into the mentoring sessions and the competition day. There was a touch of competition between the mentors wanting their respective school to win.  I think that determination was one of the driving factors that pushed the mentors to carry on through the high pressure ten hour day. This event definitely would not have been as successful without the mentors, BCIT Staff, and the high school students and teachers. This was definitely a rewarding experience!

Jennifer Wong
President | MPI BCIT
BSD Case Competition Event Coordinator

Being a director for the case study competition was by far the highlight of my time at BCIT. In June, during the beginning of the planning process I had no idea what to expect for the competition day and the mentor sessions, as something like this had never been done before at BCIT. The next five months were filled with meetings with an excellent team, and lots of emails and sessions with mentors and the high schools. Once the mentor sessions began in mid-October, the mentors, organizing team and I knew this event was going to be a success. I think it’s safe to say, we were all blown away by the amount of interest and hard work put into all the case work by the students. Their talent was truly displayed when each school made their first presentation and hurried back to their classrooms to prepare in just two hours, another case study preparation. The whole event was in large part a collaborated effort by BCIT, the BCITMA, SIFE BCIT, MPI BCIT, and the Burnaby School District to get everything organized. But what really tied it all together were the students and their drive to learn and succeed that resulted in their incredible performances. I had an extremely memorable time being a part of this event, because not only was I able to develop my writing, organizing, and communicating skills, I got to be a part of a special event that enriched and furthered education in the community.

Ayda Dabiri
Director of BSD Case Competition
BCIT Marketing Association