Kait Freeberg
Special to Mustang News
A team of four Cal Poly students won $1,000 at the on-campus Ernst & Young Beam Abroad Advisory Competition on Feb. 21. The team, which competed against two other Cal Poly student teams, was organized by business administration junior Nathan Miner and business administration sophomore Alec Toppenberg.
Miner, treasurer for the Information Systems Association, heard about the competition when Ernst & Young came to promote the idea to the club. Miner worked to find students who would join his team and business administration students Kenton Assadi and Cameron Schwartz came through.
The competition was centered around one fictional company looking to release an initial public offering and students had to find risks within the company and present a solution. After Miner and Toppenberg, representing “MastSolutions,” won Cal Poly’s competition, they flew to Los Angeles to compete at a higher level, with a prize offering of $5,000.
MastSolutions’s opponents included teams from the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. After preparing its risks and solutions for over two weeks, MastSolutions presented to the judges and were announced the winners of the competition.
In addition to the $5,000 prize, the team was given an all-expenses-paid trip to Costa Rica. There, the team will be able to enjoy leisure time and also network with two recruiters and representatives from Ernst & Young who will accompany them.
As for the total $6,000 that MastSolutions won, Toppenberg said he will be spending his portion on new speakers. Miner plans to save his portion.
Toppenberg said he thought their yellow ties and professional business cards helped win over the judges.
“We were not able to watch other teams present, but it was our team dynamic,” Miner said.