Target Sponsored Case Competition

On Friday, February 28th, Alpha Kappa Psi hosted a Target Case competition for the College of Business as well as the rest of Illinois State University. This was AKPsi's third annual case competition and we keep improving the event every year to make it our spring staple event for the campus. It was a huge success with twenty-one registered teams and twenty teams which participated on the day of the competition.

Our fraternity promoted the event with info tables, in the college of business, for just under two weeks to recruit as many teams as possible. Our marketing committee was extremely busy with the case competition and the multiple events before and after that have been taking place. With pamphlets, poster boards, and word of mouth it was extremely successful!

The night before the case competition all of the teams were invited to Firehouse Pizza in uptown Normal to get to know each other, enjoy some pizza, and get a chance to meet with the judges. At the end of the night all the teams were given a hint about the case for the next day.

What did the case competition day consist of?

It was a full day to say the least! Teams arrived at the college of business at eight in the morning while we supplied a small breakfast to get the day started. Around 8:15-8:30 the teams were given the case and were sent to their classrooms where everyone had until two in the afternoon to come up with a solution to a problem that Target was having. Jimmy John's was provided for lunch as well as Red Bull drinks, by an Illinois State campus representative. When the time was up, every team was to submit their presentation and then all the teams joined together while presentations were occurring.

There were four rooms of four judges, each panel consisting of two target employees and two professors from the university. The teams presented their solution to the panel and then answered questions that were proposed. For some groups it was a simple day and others were scrambling to finish with the time they were given (my team included!). Presentations were nerve racking but definitely a learning experience had by all.

What were the results?

Fortunately, our brothers did a phenomenal job and nine of the twelve people who placed  Alpha Kappa Psi brothers. Joe Laskey, social chair, was a part of the first place team along with three of his brothers from his social fraternity. The second and third place teams were unable to be placed and ended up, as a unanimous vote by the judges, being tied for second place. These brothers were: Lindsay Brightwell, Eileen Corley, Michael DiGiorgio, Lauren Sroka, James Shellie, Henna Verma, Fawna Wasson, and Matt Gregory.

Everyone did a wonderful job and even though not all teams were able to place, it was an experience to learn from and hopefully all will come back, with vengeance, next year.


Blog post by: Sara Bleyaert

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