Two students from the Swift Current Comprehensive High School's business club were able to walk away with a first and second place at an Ivey business competition in Calgary over the weekend.

The competition saw 40 Grade 11 students from Alberta along with seven from Swift Current split into ten teams which had to present a business strategy case to judges and fellow students.

Grade 11 students from the SCCHS, Sara Cronan, placed first with her team, and Eljay Duncga placed second with her team.

Sara Cronan said the hardest part of the competition was being paired with students they didn't know from other schools.

"Working together with teams because we're put in teams that we don't even know the people," she said. "That was very hard to work with their style."

Cronan added that from the competition she was able to learn how to better present in front a large group of people.

"It was really hard because you're not used to being put into that situation where you have to present in front of so many different people," she said. "That helped our confidence, so in future events, we can still go through that sort of a situation."

Duncga said the competition provided a definite confidence boost.

"I think it's helped boost our confidence knowing that we could go against students in Calgary and dominate the competition." 

Duncga agreed with Coran that the hardest part was working unfamiliar faces.

"Cooperating with people you don't know," she said. "Your mindsets are very different, so you have to take ideas from everybody."

Cindy Lowe is the Business Education, Skills & Apprenticeship Teacher at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School.

She said that competition was a good chance for some of the new kids to learn and experience a unique competition.

"We had a lot of new kids with us too, and so they learnt what a case competition looks like and how to work as a team," she said. "This competition is unique because they worked with other students from other schools. Typically we enter, and we work together with the Swift Current kids. This one was different which really posed unique challenges for the students because they had to work with students that they didn't know."

Lowe said she was happy to represent Saskatchewan at the competition.

"We were the only team from Saskatchewan," she said. "There was a girl from Edmonton, and the rest were made up from a few public schools in Calgary, and the rest were private schools in Calgary, so we were happy to come out ahead of some of those students who may be going to private school and maybe have $20,000 tuitions. We have very talented kids all over the place, and our school competes with the very best of them, so they had to work through some of those challenges but to have two students in the top two was extremely good for our school."

Next, up for the business club is they will be sending two teams to the SBTA High School Business Case Competition in Saskatoon in two weeks.