Students from the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Business Administration recently competed in the Fall 2013 Capstone Great Case Competition, Sponsored by Florida Blue. The competition is a part of the college’s final coursework and designed to help business students strengthen their analytic, communication, presentation and teamwork skills beyond the classroom by developing recommendations for real-world business issues.

“This is an important part of the student experience in the UCF College of Business Administration, as all of their skills are put to the test on an actual business issue,” outlined Robert Porter, Ph.D., Fall 2013 Capstone Director. “Our faculty and our sponsor, Florida Blue, worked hand-in-hand to provide a unique and valuable experience to our students.”

More than 700 students participated in the program. The semi-finals consisted of 17 teams with a total of 85 students. Five finalists were selected by panels of faculty and industry judges.

“We recognized this as a tremendous opportunity to provide business students with a way to exercise their academic skills, and benefit from the creativity and energy that students bring to industry challenges,” stated Tony Jenkins, Central Florida Market President for Florida Blue. “UCF and the College of Business is a great resource for our community and their students can compete at the highest levels based on our experience with them.”

The finalists and results are outlined below.

  • 1st Place: Team A-Z Solutions (Lab Instructor David Wo) Brian Rust, Neshah Francis, Willie Griggs, Justin Hamilton, Xiuer Zhou
  • 2nd place: Team IgKnight (Lab Instructor David Wo) Mike Johnson, Tyler Lucas, Michael Pratt, Yaning Qu, Wen Zhang
  • 3rd place: Team “The Bottom Line” (Lab Instructor Michael Johnson) Luke Hawksworth, Ryan Brandt, David Barley, Paul Lagzdins
  • 4th place: Team Knights Care (Lab Instructor Christopher Leo) Juliana Salazar, Michael Ingram, Sherlyn Leonard, Immemah Shahzad, Christopher Woods
  • 5th place: Team Apex (Lab Instructor Michael Johnson) Haley Huitt, Kristine Ajapahyan, Justin Hall, Anthony Perez, Dan Weiss

    • In addition to the regular awards, this Capstone competition featured a new recognition called “CEO Best Paper.” This is a new addition to Capstone intended to encourage doing well on researching and reporting prior to the final presentation. Team A-Z Solutions also won the CEO Best Paper.

    The UCF College of Business Administration (UCF CBA) is the second largest college at the University of Central Florida with more than 8,000 students. The college provides a full spectrum of degree programs including Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management, and Economics. In addition, UCF CBA has nationally recognized programs in Entrepreneurial Leadership, Real Estate, and Sport Business Management. The College of Business and the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). AACSB accreditation ensures students and parents that the business school is providing a top-quality education. It also ensures employers that AACSB-accredited business school graduates are ready to perform on day one.