MSTC Student Selected as Alternate in Global Business Simulation Competition
For the City Times
Mid-State Technical College (Mid-State) student Ben Joosten was selected April 12 as an alternate to the final six players for Capsim’s Foundation Challenge.
Mid-State Technical College was the seventh highest scoring institution in the nation and Joosten was its top participant with a 14th place finish; only one player per school can participate in the top six. Joosten is enrolled in Mid-State’s Business Management program.
Each semester, Mid-State Technical College’s (Mid-State) Business Management Decision Making class runs a computer simulation where students manage a company over the course of eight years. The simulation is produced by Capsim, a leader in simulation technology. Each year, Capsim runs an open Challenge for students who have played the simulation in the past year.
As Capsim describes it, the “Capsim Challenge takes Capstone, Foundation and GlobalDNA alumni and pits them against each other in a biannual competition to crown the world’s best at running a multimillion-dollar simulated company. Twice each year Capsim alumni have the opportunity to test their business acumen against over 2,500 competitors from all over the globe.”
This year the Foundation Challenge, which is the level of simulation that Mid-State uses, included over 200 students from around the world. The Wisconsin Rapids Decision Making class had five people step up to the challenge, joined by one player from last year. This is an activity that is outside of class coursework and entirely voluntary for students.
Students played eight rounds of the simulation against five computer teams over a ten-day period. Throughout the rounds, students were scored according to 19 management metrics on a Balanced Scorecard. The top six players then compete against each other to ultimately crown the winner.
“This is the first time that one of our students has completed the challenge at this level of success,” said Mid-State instructor Kim Hansen. “This accomplishment is truly outstanding when you consider that other players typically represent bachelor’s degree programs from around the world.”
The Foundation Challenge included participants from the University of Montana, Brigham Young University, King’s College, Purdue University, Illinois State University, American University (Cairo), Heidelberg University, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Cornell College, and Bowling Green State University.
Two other Mid-State students also scored within the top 25% of the competitors: Anna Truchinski, Business Management alumnus and current Accounting student, and Courtenay Keith, Business Management student. Tyler Arneson finished in the top 50%. Karen McDonald and Robert Muszynski also competed in the simulation challenge.
Mid-State’s supportive environment, state-of-the-art technology, and faculty with professional experience in the fields they teach provide Mid-State graduates with real-world skills, knowledge, experience, and confidence they need for an in-demand career. More than 9 in 10 Mid-State graduates are employed within six months of graduation. Visit the college’s website at www.mstc.edu to learn more about the college.
Additional information about the Capsim Challenge is available at http://www.capsim.com/events/challenge.
