“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life, and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau

Did anyone else only know this quote because of the movie Dead Poets Society?  Haha.  English 11 ftw.

I’ve been trying to get involved with things at UBC.  Just for the fact that when I graduate, I probably won’t get the chance anymore.  There are two major things I want to do at UBC to suck the marrow: exchange and co-op. (Ok and maybe some good young adult partying in between…) Perhaps some getting seriously involved in a club on the way… Oh yeah and… the list keeps going as I think.

Anyway, the most recent attempt to suck some marrow was a case competition! (KPMG Crack the Case)  Going into it, all I knew about case competitions was that it was something Sauder students talk about a lot.  I didn’t want to embarrass myself with my ignorance so I tried to do some research on what I was getting myself into.  Honestly, the best thing I could find was Phoebe’s post on it when she did it two years ago and she summed up the experience well and I had pretty much the same experience.

So what is a case competition?  There is essentially a “case,” like a story, that tells you about a company.  There are some graphs, a lot of qualitative information and a very general question.  Our was “What should Starbucks do?”  The tricky part is what do you do with this?  It’s just you and your team, and you just read a story.  It’s essentially what high school English classes make you do.  Reflect, analyse, respond.  Find the problem, solutions, how the implement the solutions.  Then back it up with PROOF!  The major difference between this and in class literature circles is that there is no one to guide you to the right answer.  In fact, there is no right answer.

Here is what I learned about case competitions:
– What’s the point of knowing something if you can’t tell anyone? Presentation skills are key.

– Every group comes to more or less the same conclusions, so to an extent, it’s about standing out (refer back to point above)

– Time is so precious, plan it, use it well. 3 hours in a little glass room passes by so fast.  I have a 3 hour break on Fridays, I thought it was going to be dreadfully long when I put it in my schedule but how often do I really get things done?  Rarely…

– Go big or go home. Our team didn’t win or anything, so I could be wrong, but it felt like because there was so little time, once you get an idea, you should just run with it.  Don’t worry about the implications. That doesn’t mean ignore them, just acknowledge them, but don’t let them get in the way of your ideas. (Unless it was one of those ideas where, the moment it left your mouth, you are already thinking “wtf was I thinking?”)

– Just do it. If you’re interested, just go in there, even if you don’t know what is going on, get your hands dirty, and then you’ll understand.

– Recruit a Powerpoint whiz on your team =)

– Oh yeah… using the internet is against the rules… I seriously thought “Whatever happens, I can take it.  Google can save me!” Nope.

There were two teams of 1st year students who did it this year.  I seriously applaud them.  Their presentations were tight and really showed some genuine intelligence.  I’m jealous.

“…I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.”