Success at a prestigious business competition at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. reinforced what Steven DeBoer already knew. Okanagan College is a great school, on par with many other larger institutions.
DeBoer was one-half of an Okanagan College team which just competed in the Queen’s University Inter-Collegiate Business Competition. The preliminary round attracted submissions from 38 universities across Canada and internationally, and Okanagan College made it to the finals – the only college to do so. Categories were accounting, business policy, debate, ethics, finance, human resources, marketing, and management information systems. DeBoer’s team took third in finance, while Emily Johnson’s, who did her first year in Salmon Arm, took third in debate.
Okanagan College students in Kelowna also came up with a first-place finish in ethics and second in accounting.
DeBoer’s team of two had to analyze a financial case.
“In our case, we had to decide whether a ski hill should purchase a ski lift or not. We were asked to determine how the senior management at the ski hill should be compensated, given the general downturn in the economy.”
The students were locked in a room for five-and-a-half hours, where they had to analyze the case, come up with a solution and create a 15-minute Power-Point presentation.
“Our judges were extremely distinguished leaders in business,” DeBoer said.
“Okanagan College is the gem of Salmon Arm. We have a first-ranked business school that’s comparable to the McGills, Yorks and Concordias. It’s great to go out and benchmark – the college is just as good as other schools you can pay a lot to go to.”
Queen’s University might consider 80 students a small class, while DeBoer notes that half his classes in Salmon Arm have eight students.
“In Salmon Arm we have incredible opportunities for students interested in business that are unlike anywhere else,” he says, pointing to Salmon Arm professors such as Terry Kosowick and Megan Mills.
DeBoer has already been hired by Deloitte in Calgary where he will be starting work in September.
