Greenwood Students Rank on Top in External Business Case Competition

Six Greenwood students competed at Crescent School’s inter-school business case competition on October 5 with impressive results. The group of students included those who were new to competing in a business case competition as well as seasoned veterans. But they all had one thing in common: a passion for business. 

Jeff Preston, Subject Team Leader, Business, asked students enrolled in Business courses if they’d be interested in attending this inter-school competition. 

“I got Mr. Preston’s email while I was in Math class,” says Dillon Browning Rodriguez ‘25, one of the participating students. “I looked over at Loukas [Yantsulis ‘25] and knew we were going to immediately sign up.” The other students who participated were Daisy Capombassis ‘26, Alice Celik ‘26, Kobi Cheng ‘25 and Alec Farah ‘25.

The Greenwood students were paired up and then grouped with two other students from a different school to form a group of four. “This business case competition was definitely a good test to see how well you can work with people you’ve never met before,” says Alice ‘26 who worked with Daisy ‘26 along with two other students from Crescent School. “It was definitely a good networking opportunity.” 

The case itself was about a start-up men’s sockwear company and challenged students to put themselves in the owner’s position. The company donates 1% of its profits to Kiva, a crowdfunded microfinancing platform that gives underserved communities the opportunity to access loans and better their businesses. Groups had to propose their marketing strategy, what products they would sell, and other ideas in a ‘Dragon’s Den’-esque judging format. Participants were given the judging rubric to reference while they prepared their final presentations.

And there was one more neat quirk for this competition: there was no internet access and mobile devices were not allowed during the competition. While this made some things more difficult, such as formatting their presentation using only Microsoft PowerPoint and without visuals, the groups took this as a fun challenge. “I think it really forced our group to think more originally,” says Kobi ‘25. For Alice’s group, they filled entire whiteboards with ideas. “We just threw as much on the whiteboard as possible,” she says. “It was better to keep an open mind because any idea could be useful.” 

The case competition was also faster paced than Greenwood’s full-day case competitions. “We had to learn how to work with the time crunch,” says Loukas ‘25. “I definitely learned more about collaborating, connecting with teammates and adapting to new scenarios.”

This experience also stressed the importance of communication, time management and presentation skills to all the participating students. It has also helped Kobi ‘25 with some inspiration for writing Greenwood’s upcoming Junior Business Case Competition, which takes place in December. All participating students are keen to participate in Greenwood’s business case competition. 

At the end of the competition, Alice ‘26 and Daisy ‘26’s team as well as Dillon ‘25 and Loukas ‘25’s team were ranked as the top teams from each of their sections. “I’ve attended DECA previously, but this is my first business case competition,” says Alice ‘26. “This has boosted my confidence and I’ll definitely want to try Greenwood’s business case competition.” 

Congratulations to all! We look forward to you continuing your studies in Business.