“It’s opened up a world of opportunities without a doubt,” she said. “Many people don’t know what to do with supply chain career wise. I’m really passionate about it, I love it, and I appreciate it.”

Although there aren’t as many students serving as president of a school organization, many could agree that their participation in case competitions has helped in many ways.

Case competitions typically involve multiple individuals or teams from different schools competing to solve a problem invented by the sponsor which hosts the event. The individual or team works on a solution, and presents the solution to a panel of judges. The individual or team with the best solution wins the competition.

Case competitions aren’t limited to supply chain management. During the past five years, associate professor of marketing Douglas Hughes has coached several teams in the National Team Selling Competition at Indiana University, and three of his teams finished in first place.

In addition, Hughes coached at the World Collegiate Sales Open last year, an international competition held at Northern Illinois University. Former MSU student Zororo Makamba took second place at the competition.

“We have a rich history of competing in these competitions, which shows that we have a high quality of student here at MSU,” Hughes said.

Hughes said case competitions are a great test of skill for students.

“A student has the opportunity to test their mettle in a high stress environment that allows them to apply their classroom knowledge in a real-world setting,” he said. “The level of skills they develop by practicing is pretty dramatic. Most students will tell you that they feel like they come out of the process as a different student, and it’s one of the most positive experiences they could have at MSU.”

In addition, case competitions are great résumé-building activities for students as well.

“It’s definitely something that potential employers look at favorably, very favorably,” said supply chain management associate professor M. Bixby Cooper, who coached the team that took first place at the Operation Stimulus national case competition last week. “They’re always looking for something that shows that the student did things beyond attend classes.”

Cooper mentioned frequently, sponsor companies have representatives from the company attend case competitions so they can evaluate the students that are there. At times, Cooper said that the representatives even ask students to submit resumes.

Marques, who has done several case competitions, said doing the competitions require different mindset.

“You’re not getting paid for it, it’s out of the classroom work,” she said. “It’s a lot of time and a lot of work, but it’s worth it.”