Captain Jonah Eirich and coach Kyle Bye share their account of Hill JDC West
Leave it to the business students to cease the opportunity to grow their networks while having fun! This is precisely what the Jeux du Commerce (JDC) West competition is all about. Business students say they become one of the best in their disciplines while making connections that last for life.
What is JDC West and Hill JDC West?
Various post-secondary institutions throughout western Canada take part in the JDC West competitions. The University of Regina’s (U of R) Hill business students’ society’s (Hill BSS) team has been one of them since 2006.
Emphasizing the importance of JDC West Jonah Eirich, the captain of Hill JDC West team said, “It’s a bit of a point of pride for [the Hill business] school.”
Over the course of three days all the 12 participating schools meet at the institution which wins the bid to host the competition. They compete in academic case competitions, where students from ten different business disciplines analyze, dissect, and provide counsel on a case which is judged by a panel of business professionals. Other competitions like parliamentary debates, athletics, and challenge are also part of the event. Eirich describes the event as the “business style of amazing race.”
At the end of all the competitions, the team with the highest score is awarded the “School of the year” title.
It really does take a village to win these competitions because each school comprises over 50 members. There are 30 members in the academics team, eight members in the athletics team, four in the debate team, and four in the challenge team. Apart from the participants there is an executive team of ten people and one faculty advisor with each school.
Describing the culture of Hill JDC West team, Eirich said, “[It’s] collaborative [and] tight knit year over year. We always experience that our team, the bonds, and friendships are always very close.”
What does preparation look like for the Hill team?
The preparation for different teams varies depending on the competitions. The academic teams spend their Fridays working to dissect a case and come up with a 20-minute power point presentation for which they are given three hours. They present their work to a panel of judges who are business professors from the Hill school of business and coaches who are JDC West alumni.
One such coach is Kyle Bye, a business school graduate and a JDC alumnus who wanted to give back to the school. He considers himself lucky because during his time in the team he had “fantastic judges”.
Preparation for the challenge team is pretty hardcore. They meet once a week when they are provided with a random set of challenges. They often have to practice overnight during the weekends because of the unique set of challenges they are presented with.
The debate team is trained by mock style debates, giving them 30 minutes to analyze a given topic. The athletics team has scheduled training of two to three hours a week where they practice different sports.
[The community is] collaborative [and] tight knit year over year. We always experience that our team, the bonds, and friendships are always very close.” -Jonah Eirich
Networking and career opportunities
Networks are really your net-worth especially for the people in business. Therefore, getting a chance to connect with business leaders as early as their university days is definitely one of the biggest gains for students participating in the JDC West competitions.
Talking about the various career opportunities JDC West participants gain, Eirich mentioned that during his time on the accounting team before he became the captain, he connected with an accounting employer and secured a co-op job with them.
“I did all my co-op terms through that employer and kind of through that JDC West connection,” said Eirich. “And then afterwards as well, my entry level job lined up for after school. The one big thing they noted was my involvement with JDC West.”
Being a part of the JDC team is also known to help students who are introverted and can find university overwhelming with networking.
Coach Bye recalled being a student like that. “Especially [in] my first year at [the] university, I was quite shy. Joining the JDC West team really kind of took me out of my shell.”
As a coach, Bye also makes a point to push students to “make [the] most out [of] the[ir] university experience” by encouraging them to participate in various events and programs happening on and off campus.
Opportunities like Hill JDC West are the extra miles that students can take to learn skills that cannot be taught in a class setting. Efforts to participate and get involved in such activities are definitely worth it.
