ABERDEEN, S.D. – Four NSU School of Business students received second place in the Society for Human Resource Management’s Student Case Competition, held on March 31 and April 1.

Northern students Joellen Miller of Houghton; Zachary Ulmer of Lisbon, N.D.; Nick Murphy of Elk Point; and Alexander Gray of Pierre came in second place, behind the University of Central Oklahoma, a big honor considering the nationwide scope of the competition.

The competition was held in Tigard, Ore., where team NSU competed against a large number of teams from across the United States.

Miller, captain of the team, had a lot to say about her experience.

“We went to the competition just wanting to do our best, but we didn't realize where our best would place us. When they announced our number to be in the finals I looked over at the boys and was like ‘guys that's our number’? All of our reactions were complete shock,” Miller said. “We knew that we had presented really well, but we didn't realize that it was good enough to get us into the finals especially when we were competing against large universities and this was only our first experience. We had an hour to prepare and then presented again on stage in front of not only the judges, but the entire SHRM conference, which was pretty exciting. Overall we all worked together as a team and had an amazing learning experience.”

The team was accompanied by NSU business faculty member Dr. Kristi Bockorny.

“This was the first year that NSU has competed in the SHRM Student Case Competition and through this experience, this team showed that our NSU students can compete with students from anywhere,” mentioned Bockorny about the team’s success. “I am thankful I had the opportunity to accompany these students through this amazing experience.”

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