Business Club Completes CapsimCore™ Simulation

3/22/2018

Recently, more than 30 junior and senior students in the Business Club, completed a business simulation competition led by the Business Department - Jeff Gerdeman ‘87, Mike Lynch ’77 and Joe Duffy - and Capsim, a company which offers experiential learning solutions to measure and develop the key skills needed to succeed in today’s business landscape.

The students assembled in groups of three or four to represent 12 fictional companies and were split into two separate industries. Each company was tasked with making decisions in four critical areas: research and development, marketing, production, and finance. Their progress was measured, recorded and reported and students met weekly after school for eight weeks to debrief. “The CapsimCore™ Debrief Tool highlights key metrics as well as performance headlines that the teacher can share with the students,” according to a Capsim representative.

Jeff Gerdeman ’87, Director of Technology, said that the students in this program were able to gain real-world experience which included critical thinking, strategic decision-making, teamwork and financial analysis. “When we make learning fun and engage the students, that’s half the battle. Students are learning and they don’t even realize it.” Gerdeman is pleased with the results and said St. Francis High School and the Business Department will offer this experience to students again.

Representatives from Capsim were onsite three times during the competition, including the final day of this inaugural project for St. Francis High School. They assisted with awards and encouragement for all of the teams. Certificates were awarded to the top performers and participants in the program.

The Top Scorer with 24 out of 25 stars was Industry 2 Team Baldwin followed closely by Industry 1 Team Andrews and Industry 2 Team Chester with 23 stars each.

The Top Performer was Industry 1 Team Baldwin who ranked first in the Sales, Profit and Market Share categories, second in the Stock Price category and third in Contribution Margin category. A close runner up was Industry 1 Team Andrews who ranked first in Contribution Margin and Stock Price, second in Profit, and fourth in Sales and Market Share.

Industry 1 Team Erie was named the Best Team for their impressive weekly commitment, effort and teamwork.

Capsim Champions were awarded for their completion of training modules, participation/effort, attitude, performance and leadership. Theses award recipients included Bailey Clark, Emma Yatzkan, Zachary Zera, Jacob Ramsey, Ryan Scharf and Kyle Gushurst ’19.

Congratulations to all of the participants!

St. Francis High School - Business Club 2017-18 Capsim Core – Rosters
Industry 2 (White)			Industry 1 (Blue)
Industry	Team	Students	Industry	Team	Students
2	Andrews	Daniel Dickerson Nicholas Hess Shannon Moran	1	Andrews	Samuel McEnery David Olson Emily Sparacino
2	Baldwin	Joseph De Feo Patrick England Emma Yatzkan	1	Baldwin	Bailey Clark Ryan Keefe Samuel Sidari
2	Chester	Julia Oakson Ryan Pennington Zachary Zera	1	Chester	Bennett Eltoft Anna Lantz Ryan Scharf
2	Digby	Samuel Audy Nicholas Gulli Alexandra Schmidt	1	Digby	Jonathan Lacy Thomas Siurek Hailey Strickland
2	Erie	Nicholas Armbrust Analia Dama Sean Marren	1	Erie	Tara Juhas Samuel Minarik Daniel Vale
2	Ferris	Isabella Capobianco Jacob Ramsey Henry Roback	1	Ferris	Spencer Benedict Michaela Corrigan Kyle Gushurst