A team of UW grad students are celebrating their win at the Student Evaluation Case Competition, which ran from June 19 to 21 in Quebec City. The team, called Summit Consulting, is composed of students Jiselle Bakker, Amanda Demmer, Sarah Sousa, McKenna Szczepanowski, and Thepikaa Varatharajan.
Held at the Canadian Evaluation Society’s (CES) national conference, three teams competed for the national title after qualifying in the competition’s first round. Out of the three teams, two were from UW — Summit Consulting and Encompass Solutions. After their win at nationals, the Summit team is eligible to attend the World Evaluation Case Competition which takes place online in November.
The competition’s theme this year was “evaluation in a changing world”. Each team was given five hours to analyze a mock evaluation case, and then present an oral proposal for the audience and judges.
Demmer explained that the competition provided teams the opportunity to hone their abilities. “It’s such an important skill as an evaluator to be able to work well and collaborate with your peers,” she said. “The world of evaluation is so diverse and multi-sectoral.”
Both teams were coached by UW professors Kelly Skinner and Jennifer Yessis from the school of public health sciences, who also participated in and won the competition as graduate students.
“I think we’re very fortunate here at [UW] that within the masters of health evaluation program, there are some really strong courses,” Demmer explained. “[The] University of Waterloo wouldn’t be as strong as we are without [coaches Skinner and Yessis],” she said. Varatharajan added that the coaches can help students who may be interested in joining future competitions.
For Summit team-members, the competition also allowed for in-person connection after years of online learning. “I think we’ve become really good friends through [the competition] as well,” said Varatharajan.
Additionally, teams were able to attend conferences, professional development workshops, and international sharing sessions. “[The national competition] opens up opportunities for networking and employment,” said professor Yessis. Demmer also noted the importance of the competition taking place at the CES conference, as it allowed participants to meet leaders in the field who they looked up to.
As for the future, Demmer said that some team members might retire from competing and instead volunteer for the competition’s organizing committee. “It might be time for us to look at how we can give back to this competition which [has] awarded us such great opportunities,” she said.
The team wishes to extend their gratitude to professors Skinner, Yessis, and Scott Leatherdale, who supported them throughout their journey.
