Hey friends! This blog post is about my past weekend spent in Indiana at the Kelley Business School for a case competition representing UVA.
I woke up at 4:30 because I had to meet my group by 5:30 and I needed some time to get to our business school. I was there first and low and behold, Murphy’s law came true. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. So I spent 30 minutes waiting for my team in which one member showed up but then our two other teammates were unaccounted for. An hour later, we pick up our third teammate and head to the airport. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except our fourth teammate is our team leader and we had no idea what happened to him or why we were unable to contact him.
Our driver to the airport was great at waiting on us and showing interest in our lives but he also did one of my biggest pet peeves. In college students are worried about their future and that can often cause fears and worries to rise to the surface whenever anything regarding their path in life is mentioned. Well, this driver literally criticized my uncertainty in my future plans. When people you don’t even know are giving you unsolicited opinions about their future, it is so beyond rude. You don’t even know them, they don’t know you, and yet they’re giving you their “wisdom” on life. It’s unbelievably rude.
Nevertheless, we got on our first plane from Charlottesville to Chicago, and our second plane from Chicago to Indiana. From there, we took a shuttle from Indianapolis to Bloomington. I have to say that Indianapolis is a pretty cool place. You can definitely tell it’s the Midwest because when you’re driving through, the fields are flat and not full of grass like in Virginia, and it was kind of bleak outside but I was pleasantly surprised. Our journey began at 8 and we got to Bloomington by 3:15ish.
Then the day began. For the beginning of the case competition/conference, we all got dressed up and received welcome anouncements. Next was the networking. There was 21 tables of companies to network with and tons of students (170!). It lasted for 2 hours. We would have a conversation with each company for 4 minutes and then rotate. After a while, talking that much was exhausting. It was cool to see the companies. However, since this was a business case competition, a lot of the companies were corporate and it would be nice to have startups. As I am thinking of media as my career path, I felt like I wasn’t the best fit for the companies and marketing was too similar to sales for me to consider pursuing it.
After networking, we had dinner in which Charlene Vance gave a wonderful speech about persistence and determination. She definitely gave a wonderful presentation and it was great to see her energy revitalize those of us who were competing. After dinner, my team and I figured out our parts for speaking and what we wanted to say. I was up until 1 practicing before bed.
The next morning, we were up by 6:30, and walked over to the Kelley Business School. I am annoyed that I didn’t get any pictures of the school but it was incredibly beautiful. Indiana University is great and the stone structure works well for a place that is pretty dreary due to weather. We ate breakfast, practiced a few times in front of our advisor, and got ready to present at 10:15. It was nervewracking, and I remember getting in front of company executives and shaking. One executive came in late and we were waiting in anticipation. Our presentation went well. We all spoke eloquently and articulately. We were able to answer questions well and it was an achievement on our part.
Unfortunately, we lost. We thought that we would go to the second round or place as the runnerup, but we didn’t place at all. It was a fun trip. I got to see a cool new university, eat at some very good places, and create something from nothing that I am proud of. My team didn’t win but we tried our best and that is enough.
Throughout the post, I put in some cool pictures. I got my own hotel room, which was awesome! We got a cool t-shirt. National Diversity Case Competition 2020! #NDCC2020 The beginning of dinner. A few airport pictures. Can you believe I was on 4 planes in 3 days?! A picture of my professional outfit – shiny shoes and black pants. My new IU hat. It’s comfy and definitely a lifesaver when we reached Indianapolis on our way back to school and 15 minutes outside meant frostbite.
Thanks friends for reading this weekend in my life! Tell me if you want to see more in my comments below.
Signing off,
Gigi
