Smeal Team Takes Third In Wall Street Journal Biz Quiz

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (November 15, 2006) – A team of Smeal College of Business undergraduates took third place at the Fisher Biz Quiz National Challenge, held Nov. 4 at Ohio State's Fisher College of Business.

Teams from 11 business schools competed by demonstrating their awareness of business news, issues, and trends as reported in The Wall Street Journal. Quiz questions were drawn directly from news reported in the September and October issues of the newspaper.

Smeal's team of Shawn Gordon, Vicki Korchagin, and Matt Simonetti won two categories during the preliminary round of the competition and advanced to the finals to compete against two other schools in front of a live audience in a quiz-show format. The team finished third behind Michigan State and Wake Forest.

Korchagin, a junior majoring in economics, said the competition made her realize how important it is as a student to be well-informed about current events and global business news. She also said that finding success in the team-oriented, high-pressure atmosphere of the Biz Quiz will benefit her when she leaves Smeal for her career.

"I know that situations will come up in my job where I will need to cooperate with groups of people over tight deadlines," Korchigan said. "Our team was in a similar situation in the Biz Quiz, and I now know how I react and work in that environment."

Business schools from the following universities also participated in the Biz Quiz: Indiana University, Miami University, Ohio State, Purdue, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, and University of Wisconsin.

The event was sponsored by Nationwide and The Wall Street Journal.