Case Competition for a cause cultivates school pride
What happens when you mix elements of a Ted Talk and a case competition? According to Concordia’s Garnet Key Society, you get Forces of Change: a case competition for a cause.
The winning student team, pictured at the Forces of Change case competition in March at Concordia (from left): Khushboo Handa, Carolina Serrat, Chloe Evans, Gabriela Polanco and Gitonga Wanjiku, with CUAA member judge Jaymee Shell.
This spring, the 58th Garnet Key hosted the Forces of Change event — coordinated by Concordia’s Advancement and Alumni Relations — at the Grey Nuns Building.
The Garnet Key Society is a voluntary group of Concordia students whose aim is to promote a positive image of the university.
The competition’s 24 students were divided into multidisciplinary teams and given three hours to plan a presentation on how to enhance and sustain student pride at Concordia. The judges included Andrew Woodall, Concordia’s dean of students, District 3 co-founder Deborah Dysart-Gale, chair and associate professor of Concordia’s Centre for Engineering in Society, and Jaymee Shell, BSc 14, a director on the Concordia University Alumni Association board.
The winning group was Gabriela Polanco, Gitonga Wanjiku, Chloe Evans, Carolina Serrat and Khushboo Handa. The students donated their winnings to Dans La Rue, a charity providing assistance to homeless youth and youth at risk.
“It felt incredible and rewarding! Not only were we able to help our Concordia community but we also donated money to Dans La Rue, a great cause,” says Polanco. “I was very lucky to have had a team like the one I had. They were all very smart, fantastic people.”
With a diverse population of over 46,000 students spread over two campuses, Concordia has unique challenges in cultivating a strong student identity. The 58th Garnet Key Society was intent on creating an event that would involve students and positively impact the university and the greater Montreal community.
“Students need to feel more engaged in order to take pride in their university,” says Narges Kalantari, Garnet Key chairperson for the community project. “This is possible by providing them with opportunities to have their voices heard when it comes to important matters at Concordia that affect them as students.”
Kalantari adds, “Another challenge to cultivating student pride is to create a sense of unity between students in different programs. A sense of unity enables us to celebrate the success and achievements of each Concordia student, and it encourages giving back to Concordia to help others grow, succeed and take pride in being part of this academic institution.”
“There has to be a closer bond between faculties in order to feel closer as a community, which can be hard because there are over 46,000 students,” Polanco says.
Shell says that the entries were all impressive, but Polanco and her group targeted the issue and offered cost-effective and realistic propositions.
“What separated them from the other groups was how well they identified the problems related to cultivating a larger sense of school pride, how they integrated the current services offered by the university into the solution and the creativity with their new ideas,” Shell says.
“To me, their ideas were practical, reasonable and feasible.”
Polanco appreciated the exceptional opportunity to collaborate with the university.
“I wanted to get involved in new and interesting events on campus and this seemed like the perfect event to participate in because of how challenging it is,” she says.
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