CSUB Team Wins 'Duel in the Desert'

Students from California State University, Bakersfield's School of Business and Public Administration won first place in the Arizona State University Regionals 'Duel in the Desert,' Personal Financial Case Study Competition. Now the BPA Students In Free Enterprise, or SIFE, team will head to the national championships at the University of Arizona in Tucson on
March 2-5.

CSUB's winning team, Marcia Farkus, Brandon Hall, Jessica Sanchez and Munira Zahabi, have been working with management professor David Olson."

'Duel in the Desert' was an excellent opportunity for them to utilize and exhibit their acquired tools," Olson said. "The competition asked of them to both compete against and network with student teams from several other states and Mexico. What I asked was for them to be good representatives of CSUB. They exceeded my expectations." The CSUB seniors will now be matched up against 23 other regional teams from across the nation in Tucson to compete for prizes up to $3,000.

The "Duel in the Desert" is a national personal financial case study competition sponsored by University of Arizona's SIFE team. At this event teams are given hypothetical case studies about a family in financial distress. In 36 hours competitors must research the situation and design a reasonable, workable, and creative solution to the dilemma based on the family's situation, economics, geography and resources. They present their results to panels of expert judges who decide the quality of the team's outcome.

The "Duel in the Desert" is funded by Take Charge America, a non-profit national consumer credit counseling company based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mike Hall, CEO and chairman, said, "The 'Duel in the Desert' is an exceptional program that has quickly gained widespread national attention for its unique approach in offering solutions to financial challenges. The students learn about personal finance, budgets and debt management, which are vital skills."

For additional information, please contact Olson at (661) 654-2284.

Contacts:
Mike Stepanovich, (661) 654-2456, mstepanovich@csub.edu
Jaclyn Loveless, (661) 654-2138, jloveless@csub.edu