A team of three students from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School competed against students from other top schools in the nation at the third annual Nationwide Fisher Biz Quiz, placing fifth among the 24 teams.
Mays students (left to right) Travis Cocke ‘09, Austin Carlson ‘09, and Aaron Wechter ‘10 placed fifth at the third annual Nationwide Fisher Biz Quiz hosted by The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.
The Biz Quiz, hosted by The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, tested students on their knowledge of current events as covered by The Wall Street Journal. Each participant was responsible for the information in that publication during a six-week period in October and November. The competition was game show style: before a live audience, students buzzed in when they knew the answers, moving through progressive elimination rounds.
The top spots in the event went to students from Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Minnesota. Teammates Travis Cocke ‘09, Austin Carlson ‘09, and Aaron Wechter ‘10 represented Mays at the school’s first appearance at this competition. The Mays team came in ahead of the top three teams from the 2007 competition, as well as the University of Texas, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Notre Dame and others. Kris Morley, director of the Mays Business Honors program, Risa Holland, academic advisor, and Kelli Hollinger, assistant director of the Mays Center for Retailing Studies, coached the team.
The three-day event was not only a time to test themselves against their business school peers, the Mays team say they also learned a lot from the experience. “October was an historic month in the markets. That made it even more interesting and educational,” said Cocke. Beyond the facts, they learned that in a national pool, their Mays education had well prepared them to be competitive.
“The three of us were somewhat nervous to see how we would fair against our opponents,” said Wechter. “However, after our first round…we knew that we could hold our ground.” Wechter said the event was also an opportunity for him to represent A&M in a positive light. “Many people had heard of Texas A&M, but did not know who we were and we were about. I feel that we helped establish an identity for a university that the three of us greatly value. More specifically, we displayed the Aggie values of education, camaraderie, and the pursuit of excellence,” he said.
“The most significant take-away from this event has been my increased desire to stay up-to-date with financial markets,” said Carlson. “Even though the competition is over I have still found myself intensely reading The Journal, though now I don’t have to worry quite as much about specific statistics.”
The Biz Quiz was sponsored by Nationwide’s Financial Leadership Rotation Program and The Wall Street Journal.