Re-living ICE Week

I had an amazing opportunity this past week to go back to university! My university. :)

One of our product offerings was the subject case for the BBA program Integrated Case Exercise (ICE) week.

This is a pretty neat feature of Laurier's BBA program. All 3rd year classes are cancelled and the students are put into random groups and handed a real-world business problem to solve. The case is delivered on a Thursday afternoon and they have until the following Tuesday to provide a written report; presentations follow and then it's narrowed down to the semi's and then the finalists. The exhausted finalists then get to present their plan to the organization that is having the issue. Eighty cases were narrowed down to four, and we saw those today.

The students' ideas, professionalism and energy were amazing. It was really nice to see it from the other side, too.

Now to reminisce... the school is a lot older than I remember it. But, I do remember it... all the little hallways, shortcuts, nooks and crannies. Even though some of the fixtures have changed (i.e. the Second Cup in the concourse is now a full-blown Starbucks - woot!), it felt very familiar and comfortable.

University was definitely one of the best times of my life. People look at me, almost, with a hint of pathetic-ism when I say that. But, for me university was a place where I was with a group of people that were the same age, had the same goals (academic & social), the same drive, faced the same challenges and shared the same victories. I didn't realize how unique that experience was until I left.

I'm very proud that it was one of the best times of my life... and feel lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it.

(And, in typical Laurier "it's a small world" fashion... I bumped into someone from my graduating class at the school today, there to judge a different case competition. Great little reunion.)