Business students finish strong in Peoples Bank Competition

A team of business students sponsored by the Marshall University Lewis College of Business was named a finalist in the sixth annual Peoples Bank Undergraduate Case Study Competition, which was facilitated by Peoples Bank executives and hosted by Marietta College Feb. 10.

Dr. Marc Sollosy, team advisor and associate professor of management, said the experiences the students receive at this annual competition help prepare them for their future careers.

“The Peoples Bank case competition provided our students with an exceptional opportunity to transition classroom knowledge into a real-world environment,” Sollosy said. “They were presented with situations that the bank has actually experienced and are asked to formulate and present workable recommendations for the bank to implement.”

Sixteen college teams competed: Marshall University, Ohio State University, Cleveland State University, University of Akron, Ohio University, Kentucky State University, Marietta College (two teams), Ohio Northern University, Oberlin College, University of Mt. Union, College of Wooster, Ohio Valley University, Tiffin University, Heidelberg University and Denison University.

The case covered multiple functional areas, including human resources, finance, strategic planning and marketing. After an initial presentation by each team, four finalists were announced and competed in the afternoon for cash prizes. Marshall’s team finished fourth in the competition and included three undergraduate business students: Amanda Nelson, Ruba Alghazi and Luke McClure. These students received a cash prize of $500 to be shared among them.

Amanda Nelson, a senior marketing and management student, said being named a finalist in the competition was an exciting opportunity.
“It was such an amazing experience, and I really enjoyed being able to apply concepts that I have learned in the classroom to a real-world problem,” Nelson said.

Dr. Avi Mukherjee, dean of the Lewis College of Business, said the college will continue to provide opportunities like this to their students.

“I’m very proud of the students’ strong performance at this annual case study competition under the guidance of Dr. Sollosy,” Mukherjee said. “The college is deeply invested in providing experiential learning and external engagement opportunities for its students.”