The St. Thomas winning team. From left to right: Abby Radue, Emily Rose, Sophia Nicklason, and Francesca Bergin. Lawrence Chui (faculty adviser). Not pictured, Kim Ishaug (faculty adviser).
A team of St. Thomas Accounting and Business students won the PwC Challenge case competition held in Minneapolis on November 18.
Challenge is PWC’s accounting and tax case competition that takes on real-world strategic issues facing businesses. It allows first and second-year students to develop and make analytical and fact-based recommendations to solve real-world business issues. PwC launched Challenge in 2002, to increase students' exposure to professional services and the world of public accounting. The competition has drawn nearly 100 schools and almost 40,000 participants since its launch.
The St. Thomas team comprising Abby Radue (Accounting), Emily Rose (Finance and Financial Management Services), Sophia Nicklason (Accounting), and Francesca Bergin (Economics and Business Administration – Financial Management), edged out teams from the University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, University of North Dakota, and College of St. Benedict/St. John's University to win.
From left to right: Lawrence Chui (faculty adviser) Hunter Strop (St. Thomas alumnus at PwC and our the PwC mentor), Sophia Nicklason, Emily Rose, Abby Radue, Francesca Bergin, Julia Carroll (St. Thomas alumna at PwC and the team PwC mentor), and Anne Christianson (the team liaison from PwC). Not pictured, Kim Ishaug (faculty adviser).
This is the first time St. Thomas has been invited to participate in the competition. Nine student split into two teams competed in the St. Thomas round of Challenge on October 25. The winning team advanced to the final round. Professors Lawrence Chui and Kin Ishaug served as faculty advisers. PwC partners and St. Thomas alumni Tom McCarr and Bill Udelhofen provided invaluable coaching and mentoring advice to the teams. A proud Professor Chui said, “All of our competitors have done a very good job.”
For more information about the competition, please visit the PwC Challenge page.
