Next-Gen Wildcats Helps High School Students Discover Business Information Systems

Pleasant Valley High School students participate in Next-Gen Wildcats business simulation activity

Christine Witt, assistant professor in the Department of Business Information Systems (BSIS) at California State University, Chico, along with the Graduate Business Association hosted Next-Gen Wildcats—BSIS’s premiere event to help high school students get excited about the opportunities in information systems and business.

Nearly 70 Pleasant Valley High School students visited the Chico State campus on Friday, November 3 for the event. Visiting students had the rare opportunity to discover and experience first-hand business majors and careers in the information systems field. They also had the opportunity to compete with each other using real-world business tactics.

The event featured industry partner and alumnus Tim Merrifield (BS, Business Administration, ’89), senior director of M&A integration at Coupa. Merrifield gave a talk on fast-growing careers in information systems and led an exciting discussion about the rising demand for experts in the field. 

The winning team left to right: Jacob Abdulmasih, Evan Oelrichs, professor Christine Witt, Sam Gibson, and Justice Keatiy

Visiting students got the opportunity to immerse themselves in business with an engaging simulation activity. Student teams participating in the competition were required to make hypothetical business decisions as if running their own company and had to think critically in order to make fast judgements to outwit the opposing teams. Each team had a Chico State SAP Club mentor to assist them with navigating SAP and strategizing their next moves between rounds. Factors such as pricing, marketing and procurement decisions determined the winning team.

SAP Club president and event mentor Elizabeth Konecny was ecstatic about Next-Gen Wildcats.

“All the mentors were beyond impressed with the PV students,” Konecny said. “These high school students were devising strategies and asking questions that many of the mentors had not thought of until after we had worked with the simulation for a few weeks.”

The BSIS department will continue to work with Pleasant Valley High School students offering additional SAP Young Thinkers activities similar to Next-Gen Wildcats.  

Christine Witt
Department of Business Information Systems
cwitt3@csuchico.edu 
530-898-5199