By Melissa Nilan, Marketing and Communications

Students in several Douglas College management programs are ending this semester on a high note.

Teams from Supply Chain Management/International Supply Chain Management, Project Management and Hospitality Management all put their skills to the test in competition recently, with some impressive results.

Supply Chain Management students win job offers

Students Arshpreet Gill, Karina Quijada and Samantha Yang entered into the APICS Case Competition, a globally recognized event that draws over 200 teams of post-secondary students from across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Participants tested their skills with supply chain challenges drawn from real-life scenarios.

The fast-paced competition required students to come up with a solution to the case study they were given in just half a day.

“We worked well together by acknowledging our individual strengths and weaknesses, accepting and considering every member’s ideas, as well as trusting each other. Without that, we couldn’t have finished in the allotted time,” said Karina.

The Douglas College team won first place in the first round and was one of only eight teams selected to compete in the regional round in Toronto. They didn’t make it to the finals, but all three students walked away with what might be considered a better prize – job offers.

“One of the judges, the senior manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, told us afterwards that we were his choice for winners, but he was out-voted. He added us on LinkedIn and asked us to stay in touch and contact him if we ever wanted to work for Deloitte,” said Arshpreet.

Project Management students design eco-friendly recreation

Two student teams from competed in the Wideman Prize Competition held in Vancouver. Projects had to focus on the theme “Go Green Vancouver.”

Ligihelena Nunez, Andrea Chrispim and Mary Ye Quinmin designed an eco-friendly art activity for autistic children using coffee grounds as paint. The team struggled with sponsorship in the early stages, putting them behind in their project planning and losing two members as a result; eventually they found support with Autism BC and though they weren’t able to execute their project by the competition deadline, they received very positive feedback from the audience and judges. The competition results have given them the encouragement to continue working with Autism BC to execute the project.

Gillian Hollett, Vu Doan and Manpreet Singh, joined by Therapeutic Recreation students Shoshana Loewen, Courtney Stebbe, partnered with Open Door Group Vancouver to design a community garden program to help people struggling with addiction.

“Their existing garden was not accessible for those who couldn’t kneel on the ground, so that was the first thing we had to address,” explained team leader Gillian. “We also created a list of plant recommendations, a maintenance plan and a functioning solar-powered irrigation system that uses rain water. We don’t normally get to execute a project of this size within the confines of the classroom, so this was a great real-life learning experience.”

The inclusion of students from a different program gave the team a multi-disciplinary edge that paid off. The team took second place in the competition.

Hospitality Management students impress tourism judges

Hospitality Management students Thi Hau Nguyen, Nguyen Khanh Vu, Carla Ribeiro Pedrosa and Heajun Yoon competed against several other local post-secondary tourism programs in The Winning Pitch provincial case competition.

They prepared and presented a report detailing their idea for a new product/service that would help boost the Lower Mainland’s tourism during off-season. The competition was judged by Destination BC, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Pacific Gateway Hotel and travel journalist Nikki Bayley.

The team placed second in the regional round with what the judges called “an extremely well-researched report.”