Organizations hope to tie business to Little 500

While most students spend the week of Little 500 at happy hour and themed parties, serious business students have the opportunity to compete in a different kind of race.

Through the conjunction of Women in Business and business fraternities Alpha Kappa Psi and Delta Sigma Pi, the first-ever Kelley 500 case competition will take place from the first week of April through April 18.

The competition is centered around Little 500 and will present to teams a problem pertaining to the famed bicycle race.

Teams that make it to the final round of competition will compete to find the best solution to the problem, although the actual problem will not be presented until April 11, one week prior to the final due date. 

“We’re trying to include as many ties to Little 500 as possible,” said Brian Darrow, co-founder of the Kelley 500.

Audrey Clayton, president of Women in Business, brainstormed events with Darrow for the Kelley 500 that would mirror the Little 500.

Similar to qualifications for riders, competitors in the Kelley 500 will enter a qualification case to advance to the final round of competition. This qualification case will narrow the pool to the top 20 teams. Similar to how the best qualifying bike teams are first to pick the color of their jerseys, the winner of the Kelley 500 qualifications round will first pick their presentation time for the final case.

Teams consist of three or four students, most of whom are expected to be business majors or to have a strong interest in business. All teams must be comprised of members from the same student organization. Any student organization is welcome to enter an unlimited number of teams.

The committee members expect the most highly represented student organizations to be business-oriented.  

“By being a member of a student organization, (team members) are representing more than themselves,” Darrow said. “It elevates the prestige in comparison to similar competitions.” 

The best teams will be comprised of individuals with varying strengths in different aspects of business, such as finance, marketing or accounting, said Elizabeth Martindale, a member of the Kelley 500 Marketing and Logistics committee. 

Teams selected to enter the final round of competition will have one week to prepare the best solution to the hypothetical problem facing the Little 500.

The solutions will be judged by a panel of volunteers from Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi and Women in Business. Members from these organizations also make up the committees planning the Kelley 500: finance, marketing, events and the case committee, which is currently authoring the problem to which all teams must find a solution.  

Winners will be selected April 18, with a tentative cash prize of $3,000 awarded to the first-place winner. Seventy-five percent of the prize will be given directly to team members, while the remaining 25 percent will be given to the team members’ organization.    

“We hope to bring together all of the different student organizations that exist within the business school, similar to how Little 500 brings together all of the greek organizations,” Darrow said. “Our intent is to make this a long-term organization that will grow with each passing year.”