Summer was a busy time for JDC Central teams. Captains only had a few months to set the foundation for the year to come. Now that the school year has hit, that foundation is needed to support the whole team. JDCC Co Captains have to build that foundation with the anticipation of the challenges that they will face ahead.
Nikki Mills is one of JDCC Schwartz’s CoCaptains. This is her second year of involvement with the team. During last year’s JDC Central, she served as an academic competitor. Last year was also St. Francis Xavier’s Schwartz School of Business’ first foray into JDC Central. With one year as a half team under their belt, JDCC Schwartz will look to capitalize on their experiences.
Their mindset last year was all about being adaptable. “JDCC 2014 was our team’s first time competing, and because of that we really had to go in with an open mind and be willing to adapt to the atmosphere” Nikki said. Her plans for the future were built by the experiences from the past “I would like to see our teams place higher in the academic standings this year now that they have had one competition under their belt and have experiences to draw from.“ Higher rankings isn’t the only objective that had Nikki busy over the summer. “Much of our team last year are graduating this year and as such, the pressure is on to get our freshman and sophomores involved with JDCC so it can continue within the Schwartz School of Business for the years to come.” Building a lasting JDCC franchise at a school can be a full time job alone. Add the expectation of performance improvements on top of that, and Nikki and her Co Captain Jake will have a lot of work to do with their team and with the greater St.FX community.
“Our strategy this year has not differed greatly from last year’s. We want our team to go in and give JDCC their all, making the best of their opportunity to network with the leaders of tomorrow. Over and above that, we want to use the experience we gained from JDCC 2014 to improve our academic standings in Toronto while encouraging involvement from our student population.” Nikki said about her strategy going into JDCC 15. This year, she plans on staying the course. JDCC Schwartz will be doubling it’s team size, entering a full team. This presents new challenges, but also the opportunity to take home the big awards: School of the Year, and The Academic Cup. The measurement of their success will come in January at the closing gala dinner and awards where the results are announced, and then again next summer when their school decides if they want to continue to compete. Until then, Nikki will be focused on building St. FX’s first full team.
