UT Arlington Student Tackles Business Simulator*

By Katie Collins, UT Arlington Journalism student and special contributor to the Alvarado Star.

For a lot of students, simulation games involve strumming a guitar in tune with the TV or creating a fantasy character to perform quests. For one University of Texas at Arlington student, it's all about stock prices and sales quotas.

Derick Shaw, a UTA senior and 2003 Alvarado High School graduate, was one of the six student-teams across the globe to reach the final round of the Foundational Business Simulation tournament. Shaw was introduced to the program in one of his classes.

The simulation takes place over eight years, with an hour representing a year. Students run multi-million dollar companies, making important decisions such as marketing, finance and production.

"I liked the course and did well in the simulation, so I decided to do the tournament," Shaw said.

The competition began with 272 teams competition against computers. After eight days, the six teams with the best overall score moved on to the final round.

Shaw came in first place of the top six.

In the final round, the teams competed against each other instead of computers.

In the first two rounds, the students had a full day to make decisions. In the last round each team had only an hour to make important business decisions to help their company.

Shaw came in sixth place in the final round with a score of 646. Bocheng Lin, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, came in first with a score of 757. "It would have been nice to walk away with first, but I was just happy to compete," Shaw said.

The Foundation Business Simulation was created by Capsim Business Simulations Inc. The program was originally developed as a tool for Fortune 500 companies, but made its way into the education system. The first challenge was held in 2002, and challenges are held twice a year. "The winner doesn't receive a cash prize — just bragging rights," said Capsum's May Zelner. "It was very impressive. The final round was very intense."

UTA is accredited by American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Anderson explained UTA tests its graduating seniors with other universities to assure quality.

Graduate level business students at UTA use the Capsim simulation, and UTA professor Dr. Marvin Anderson explained this is the first semester for undergraduate students to use the program. "I felt Derrick did outstanding," Anderson said. "He didn't say it couldn't be done. He didn't say anything — He just did it." When the students challenged the program at the end of Anderson's course, the professor gave his students "three weeks — no classes" to finish the laborious business simulation. Shaw completed the program in one day.

"I was kind of that way in high school," Shaw said of his years at Alvarado High School. "I would study about two or three hours for a test, and I would be the first one finished and out the door."

Shaw not only graduated from AHS, but attended Alvarado schools since kindergarten. He is an Eagle Scout and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class.

*Posted with permission by and courtesy of www.alvaradostar.net