December 9, 2010

 

Contacts:

Pat Holman, College of Business, 657-2035
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Curtis Wallette, a business major at Montana State University Billings, recently placed among the top students in the in the world in a business simulation competition.

 

Wallette, a junior from Billings majoring in business management, finished third among 297 competitors in the 2010 Fall Foundation Business Simulation Challenge, an international business simulation competition sponsored by Capsim Management Simulations.

 

""Wallette first used the Foundation Business Simulation in a class taught by Patricia Holman. In November, he competed in the final rounds against five other student management teams and achieved 677 points out of 1,000 on the Balanced Score Card to take the competition. He then moved onto the finals, where he placed third behind students from Baylor University and Brigham Young University – Idaho.

 

“The class associated with the Foundation Simulation has been my favorite thus far in college,” Wallette said. “It has been very enjoyable for me. It has been extremely effective in demonstrating how each department can affect the overall performance of a company. It has given me an opportunity to apply a substantial amount of what I have learned.”

 

Holman encourages her students to get involved in the competition because it reinforces concepts that students learn in class. Wallette has been involved in other competitions, including an award-winning project done two years ago with the MSU Billings American Indian Business Leaders club.

 

Holman said Wallette’s growth as a student has been impressive. He has demonstrated a level of understanding of the business management process and it paid off in the competition. In fact, she said, his work has been viewed by other students as the standard of achievement in her class.

 

“He’s so organized and so talented, it’s just amazing,” she said. “And it’s great that he can set an example for others of how he can set a goal and achieve it.”

 

May Zelner, coordinator of the competition, said “this is the eighth Foundation fall challenge and has been fantastic to watch the way the competition grows every year as students embrace the opportunity to strut their stuff and really demonstrate what they’re learning in business school.” 

 

The competition was very intense where students are given a different management scenario and are asked to make daily decisions that impact the overall success of a business. Students review their decisions, make changes and move on to other decisions in an online environment. The competition is done around family, work and other academic responsibilities.

 

The Foundation Business Simulation Challenge is a global online competition held in the spring and fall semester each year.  The competition is hosted by Capsim Management Simulations, Inc. of Northfield, Ill., the world’s largest provider of business simulations to college graduate and undergraduate students.  The annual competitions are open to all students who have used a Capsim business simulation in their university course.

 

For more information about programs at the College of Business, call 657-2812 or go online to www.msubillings.edu/cob/.