In mid-April, an email got sent out to Weyburn Comp parents about the WCS Case Solvers and how they needed our help.

Initially, we scratched our heads and went "what? What are we talking about here?"

We were talking about the team Margot Arnold, the Business Education teacher at WCS, put together of Kate Goranson, Russ Shumlich, Ben Michel, and Dalton Chicoine and their case competition in Alberta,

Although WCS students normally partake in a case competition in Saskatoon, this year's was canceled due to the pandemic. In Alberta, however, one was offered virtually and Margot Arnold saw the perfect opportunity for the team to compete.

"It was a little hard because I had three in one class but Dalton was not in the same class," laughed Margot. "I gave them the definition of 'what is a case study and how do you deconstruct a case study'."

From there, the students took over trying to solve their case study.

"Basically, we make a presentation trying to solve the problem," said Kate.  "The problem was low renewal rates for Albertans under the age of 25 using AMA so we basically made a PowerPoint coming up with ideas on how to solve that."

"It's just an excellent competition where they need to find out what is the problem?" Margot added. "If you don't do anything, what are the results of that, the pros and cons of that? Then they have to come up with two other scenarios, pros, and cons, and then they pick what they think is the best recommendation and what impact they think it might have if there's any risk they can mitigate, and then they have no longer than ten minutes to videotape themselves, each participating equally, to present that team video to the judges."

For the presentation to the judges, the team came in second place. 

When the email initially went out, it was to help the team out by liking their video on YouTube.

"Right now, at the moment, we did win that," said Kate. "It was really a great experience and we learned a lot of things and to be able to get second place on top of that is amazing."

The team has won $800 for their second-place finish and the most liked video earns another $300.

"I'm very proud of them," said Margot.

When asked what her biggest takeaway was from the whole thing, Kate said "going out of our comfort zone and learning communication skills. Russ and I are heading into Business next fall so I think getting into the business field was a great experience."

Although she gives credit to her team, Kate also spread the credit to her teacher.

"I just want to thank Mrs. Arnold for helping us and supporting us through this year," she said. "She really helped us and pushed us in the right direction."

A huge CONGRATS to the WCS Case Solvers!