David Vandenberg, a member of the winning team from 2015 Pythons’ Pit and 3 high school friends attending Wilfred Laurier Univeristy took part in the annual Inter University Case Conference held in Waterloo, ON. The three individuals are all in the Business Administration program and David in Honours Economics.
The team, consisting of David Vandenberg, Alex Ilkos, Zach Wilson and Anthony Carello captured first place at IUCC 2016 and took home the grand prize of $1000. They called themselves “Nelson Lords” as they all attended Nelson High School in Burlington, ON. The team was competing against many other reputable schools such as Ivey, University of Waterloo and MBA candidates from the surrounding area.
The theme for IUCC 2016 was to design a marketing plan for the Kitchener Rangers OHL Hockey team. The plan had to outline short and long term issues, along with solutions for these problems. The Nelson Lords outlined a four step marketing plan named “KURS” which would deliver more university students to Rangers games and ultimately create a more lively experience for fans.
David outlined how his experience at Pythons’ Pit prepared him for success. “The presentation skills, comfortability with business professionals and networking has come so much easier to me thanks to Pythons’ Pit. Pythons’ Pit gave me that first-hand experience in a business setting and how to sell my business or my marketing plan”, said Vandenberg. The networking skills he has learned have helped to develop long standing relationships with the COO and President of the Kitchener Rangers Hockey Organization. “Not only did they love our idea, but they want to implement it into action for the next season! They invited us for a game against the London Knights, and showed us all of the behind the scenes actions of the team, it was a fantastic night”
“This is a perfect example of the vision of Pythons’ Pit, “ says Fareen Samji, Rotary volunteer and Chair of Pythons’ Pit. “Encourage entrepreneurial skills, innovation and instill confidence by giving them real world business training,”
Pythons’ Pit 2016 is now underway and you can watch the Live show on Wed May 25th at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.