From Challenge to Championship

Monday, November 2, 2020
by Angela, Y - AFM

…What a wild ride!

The RISE competition is Schulich's multi-disciplinary case competition, in which delegates compete in a case simulation in a discipline of their choice and present it to industry professionals. The 5 disciplines that teams competed in were: Accounting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Strategy. My team participated in the corporate social responsibility discipline.

angela
Having participated in the RISE competition, I realized how well Waterloo’s Accounting and Finance Program (AFM) has prepared us for the real world by giving us a competitive advantage. Well equipped with the toolkits and strategies from the courses we took in AFM, our team felt confident in our financial analysis and was able to impress the judges at the RISE competition with our well supported plan-of-action.

I recognize that having a strong knowledge of our program as a foundation was important but having a strong team dynamic made the entire experience easier and more enjoyable. During the 2-hour pressure tank, where we had to complete our analysis and presentation deck, we were put in a scenario that was hectic, stressful and tested our limits. However, we were able to complete it as a team as we delegated tasks and made sure we communicated and discussed our ideas. Everyone had diverse experiences and unique thoughts that helped contribute towards new ideas, and eventually a championship. This competition was a lot of fun and hard work, with the icing on the cake being the social media challenge where we goofed around and made a cute Tiktok together! I would strongly recommend being proactive and participating in these types of case competitions to meet new people and self-evaluate for areas of improvement. Participating in case competitions has definitely made me realize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but by working together as a team, we were able realize our true potential and RISE to the top!