2013 BCIT High School Case Competition

The BCIT High School Case Competition was developed by

the BCIT School of Business in partnership with the Burnaby

School District and Vancouver School Board. The program

was targeted towards high school students in grades nine to

twelve. It consisted of three cases: Canadian Blood Services,

Fright Nights at Playland and Triple O’s. The program was

divided into two phases: mentorship and case competition.

The first phase consisted of members from the BCIT student

chapters of Meeting Professionals International (MPI),

Marketing Association (MA), and Entrepreneurial Action Us

(Enactus) that acted as mentors for the high school students.

This year, the BCIT High School Case Competition expanded

from five high schools in Burnaby to nine high schools in

both Burnaby and Vancouver. The high schools involved

were: Burnaby Central, North, South, Mountain, Eric

Hamber, Gladstone, Magee, Moscrop, and Windermere. For a month the mentors provided guidance

and answered questions the students had about developing a marketing plan. The first case, Canadian

Blood Services, 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 case development. The second case,

Fright Nights at Playland, was a presentation case and was also the connection to phase two of the

program, the case competition.

On Saturday, November 16, 144 high school students,

teachers, and mentors participated in the case competition

day. 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 and apply what they learned the past month. In

the morning, the students presented their work on the

Fright Nights at Playland case. After the presentations, the

students were introduced to this year’s competition case –

Triple O’s. Cathy Tostenson, VP of Marketing and Menu

Development at White Spot gave a detailed overview of

Triple O’s need to differentiate itself from its competitors. In

the afternoon, the students were given 2.5 hours to enjoy

their lunch courtesy of Triple O’s and worked diligently to

develop a ten minute presentation that solves the problem

stated in the case. The winner of the 2013 BCIT High School

Case Competition was Burnaby North for the second year in

a row. Awards were also given out for the best market

research, most creative idea, and most strategic idea.

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The BCIT High School Case Competition is such an amazing project! I was fortunate enough to work with

a great team to organize this competition two years in a row. My main focus was the development and

organization of the case competition day. Last year the competition included five Burnaby High Schools

(87 people) and this year the competition expanded to nine high schools from both Burnaby and

Vancouver (144 people)! I would like to thank all the mentors and teachers for their support! The

mentors and teachers put so much effort into the competition day. It was a high pressure ten hour day

and yet they still had a smile on their face! They are in direct line of contact with the students and so

their positive energy passes onto the students. The smiles from last year’s competition are what made

me come back to organize this year’s competition. I wanted to see the event be once again successful,

even with more schools, and see the positive impact it has on the students.

Jennifer Wong

BCIT High School Case Competition Event Coordinator

Going into the Case Competition's second year, the planning team and I had a better idea of what to

expect and how the event was to run. With that in mind, having the Vancouver School Board join the

competition with four Vancouver schools was warmly welcomed. The prospect of the event almost

doubling in size was a bit daunting to me, but

also very exciting. I had an excellent experience

as Director; being closely involved with the

mentors, teachers, and sponsors really

demonstrated to me the unique roles that each

play in making the event a success. Knowing just

how impactful the experience was to last year's

participants made the multitude of meetings,

emails, and case writing hours a pleasure. Also,

having such great companies come on board,

such as Triple O's, PNE, and KIND Snacks added

excitement to the planning process and of

course, the event day. Once again, the high

school students impressed and amazed us all

with their passion and eagerness to learn and

perform! Thanks to the hard work and

enthusiasm of the students, mentors, teachers,

sponsors, and supporters, I'm delighted to say

that the event was a huge success!

Ayda Dabiri

BCIT High School Case Competition Director

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Thank you to the judges of both the morning and afternoon case.

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Thank you to our sponsors for their support of the BCIT High School Case Competition.

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Thank you to the mentors of the three BCIT student clubs.

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