A group of UNBC business students brought home some hardware from the JDC West competition in Saskatoon on Jan. 15-17.

The event pits 12 university business schools in Western Canada, including UNBC, against one another, competing in academic disciplines such as finance and entrepreneurship.

And when the results were announced on a cold January Sunday evening in Saskatoon, the UNBC Wolfpack won four trophies.
Among them are first-place finishes in marketing, participation and fundraising, as well as second-place in finance.

“This is huge. We were the smallest university there with the smallest business school,” said co-captain Carlie Whitwham, a fourth-year marketing and accounting major.

UNBC’s JDC West team is comprised of 48 students and four non-students and faculty. To be eligible, they must be either working towards a major or minor in business.

The 10 academic teams comprised of three students each, include accounting, business strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, human relations, marketing, international business, management information systems, not-for-profit and tax.

There are four students on the debate team and four students on the social team, and eight more on the athletics team.

JDC West teams are also expected to fundraise for charity over the course of the year and UNBC went above and beyond, raising a record total of $127,000 which earned them top prize in fundraising in Saskatoon.

It’s an impressive amount considering a total of $300,000 was raised by the 12 participating schools.

The Wolfpack raised $10,000 at their Chillin’ for Charity event outside in CN Centre’s parking lot prior to a Prince George Cougars hockey game last fall.

Wicki and Whitwham then brought the cheque to the Festival of Trees, a major fundraiser for the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation in November where, one by one, the amount was matched, eventually totaling $127,000.

“We had worked with Spirit of the North before, but we definitely did not expect that we’d reach that amount,” said Whitwham.

“We had an unprecedented amount of support,” added co-captain Brody Wicki, a a fourth-year accounting and finance major. “We just want to say a huge thank-you to our coaches and sponsors and all of the people who made a commitment to help us out.”

As co-captains, Whitwham and Wicki are not eligible to compete. Instead, they’re in charge of developing the team with practice (each student spends, on average an extra 10 hours a week outside the classroom on JDC West) and getting the sponsorships and coaches.

UNBC JDC West alumni also volunteer their time coaching the students as well.

Whitwham says the skills students learn while in JDC West will be invaluable to them when they graduate.

“During the academic competitions, you have three hours to solve a case and build a 20-minute presentation,” she said. “You’re without the internet and you can’t bring anything (materials) in and take anything out. You learn to think critically and quickly. You learn time management and team work and how to deal with pressure and how to adapt quickly.”

“There is also overall professionalism and public speaking,” added Wicki, who made the athletics team as a second-year student and then transitioned to the accounting team last year. “I really liked the community feel and the support I received from everyone,” he said. “(JDC West) made me feel like I was part of something bigger.”

Whitwham joined the social team in her first year in JDC West, then was on the academic teams for the last two years prior to becoming co-captain.
Tryouts for UNBC’s JDC West team occur every September and the work begins immediately for the competition held every January that alternates between the 12 Western Canadian universities.

UNBC’s 2015-16 JDC West team is comprised of two first-year students, several second-year students with the majority being third and fourth-year students.

Pictured above are Carlie Whitwham and Brody Wicki.