{"id":1803,"date":"2021-02-18T12:13:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earlhamcollege.wpengine.com\/?p=1803"},"modified":"2021-02-24T08:40:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T13:40:54","slug":"students-compete-in-regional-round-of-association-for-supply-chain-management-case-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/students-compete-in-regional-round-of-association-for-supply-chain-management-case-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Earlham students compete in regional round of Association for Supply Chain Management Case Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For the second time in three years, a team of Earlham College students has been selected to compete in the regional\u00a0round of the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) Case Competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Gendreau, Kayla Newman, Winnie Nguyen and Denise Bergdolt will compete virtually on Saturday, Feb. 20, for a chance to advance to the national ASCM competition. The competition is sponsored by Deloitte Consulting LLP, a multinational professional services organization and one of the \u201cBig Four\u201d accounting firms in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdvancing to one of the eight regional rounds of this global competition is a special honor that underscores the quality of our faculty and the dedication and knowledge of our students,\u201d said Seth Powless (pictured right), associate professor of Global Management and faculty adviser for the team. \u201cOur students will be competing against undergraduate and graduate students from large universities with established business schools, but our students are once again proving that a strong liberal arts education provides the kind of foundation that can help them be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team advanced to the regionals earlier this year after winning a quarterfinal competition against students from Purdue, Indiana and other Midwestern universities. That competition challenged participants to solve a real-world case involving distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. The students believe the next round will have a similar focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received a huge layout of a floor plan for a vaccine and all of the glassworks that went into it. We had to figure out how to best create four different types of vials and keep them sanitary and move them out into the world,\u201d said Kayla Newman, a junior Global Management major from Richmond, Indiana, whose studies focus on supply chain and operations management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the first round we had a few weeks to submit our case and work on it with our team,\u201d she said. \u201cThis next round is more intense. We will get our case at 7:30 a.m. and have to submit our video by 5:30 p.m. the same day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlhamites have competed in supply chain case competitions since 2017 with support from the College\u2019s Global Management faculty and the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity. A team of Earlham students last participated in the ASCM competition in 2019 and advanced to the regional round, which included an expenses-paid trip to Chicago. Earlham also finished first in the 2018 and 2019 Conexus of Indiana Supply Chain Case Competitions, an industry-driven event that featured more than 20 colleges and universities across the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are successful because our faculty make connections between students who might not typically work together,\u201d said Denise Bergdolt, a junior Global Management and Economics double major from Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are four people from Earlham, but we have three different majors and three nations represented on our team,\u201d she said. \u201cTwo of us are student-athletes. Two of us are not. There are lots of different ideas and perspectives on our team we can bounce ideas off of. That\u2019s what makes this so great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teammates are learning how to leverage their strengths in the lead-up to the competition. For example, Bergdolt and Nguyen, an Economics and Computer Science double major from Vietnam, have emerged as the team\u2019s data experts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Marc and I have been sweating the details, Winnie has calmed us down and said, \u2018It\u2019s OK everyone. Let me type out some numbers,\u201d Newman said. \u201cDenise is writing on the chalkboard speaking in half German and half English figuring out formulas we didn\u2019t even realize we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s budding camaraderie has been one of the best parts of the competition, Gendreau said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all bring such different strengths to the team,\u201d said Gendreau, a Global Management major from Cincinnati with a concentration in supply chain and operations management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes the team camaraderie so much better. We\u2019re learning from each other throughout this process. We\u2019re hoping to make it to the end of this competition and make a statement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Media contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Zimmerman<\/strong>
Director of media relations
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Email: zimmebr@earlham.edu
Phone: 765.983.1256<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n