Two teams take honors at MCC Helbling commerce competition
Two teams of students in the Principles of Management class at the Academy for High Performance at McHenry County College were recently declared co-winners of the second Helbling Spirit of Commerce award.
This competition, sponsored by JMS Consultations Inc., in Crystal Lake, honors the late Joe Helbling's vision to develop an integrated curriculum designed specifically for adults that would meet the needs of business and industry in McHenry County.
Helbling was an assistant vice president of technology at MCC, and was instrumental in creating the Academy for High Performance with his vision to integrate the liberal arts and sciences with occupational education coursework. He died in 2002.
For McHenry County College employees Jackie Covelli, Pat Kallaus, both of Crystal Lake; and Jonnie Jo Sullivan, of Wonder Lake; and students Meg Myers of Crystal Lake and Maricella Garza and Mary Smith of McHenry, their hard work paid off last summer as members of the Dream Team.
The other winning team, the Visionaries, included: Alan Zawislak of Genoa City, Wis.; Ron Kuehn of Lake in the Hills; Wayne Kreutzer of McHenry; Steve Maye of Wonder Lake and Lori Behan and Leticia Reynoso, both of Woodstock.
"The two winning teams showed impressive creativity in their recommendations," said Sally Selcke, director of the Academy for High Performance.
"The Dream Team recommended partnering with Del Webb and building a '55 or Better Lifestyle Community,' while the Visionaries suggested partnering with Microsoft to promote an educational outreach program for public schools," she said.
Instructor Karen Jane Moody guided the students through the process of exploring Disney's international ventures, preparing an analysis that lists the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) and understanding different management theories.
Currently in its 11th year, the academy continues to reach out to adults and make their dream of earning a degree a reality. Today, the academy serves about 345 students a year, most of whom are full-time working adults from 75 different employers in McHenry County.
The students are divided into 11 different cohorts in associate degree programs in business management, manufacturing management, construction applications management and administrative office management.
Students attend academy classes one night a week for up to eight weeks. The program combines the traditional coursework needed for degrees with the "soft skills" needed in management roles.
The competition had special meaning for Pat Kallaus, who said, "I had the pleasure of working with Joe Helbling, and it was an honor to take part in a competition bearing his name.
"Through the Disney project I learned about Walt Disney's vision, risk-taking and tenacity. A key component of Disney's culture is its embracement to continually improve and take risks trying something new.
"He inspired his employees and they were very loyal. Disney also had the uncanny ability to know what his customer wanted and managed to make it work seamlessly."
Four teams comprised of students enrolled in Principles of Management studied the "Once Upon a Time at Disney" case study and presented, as a group, their specific recommendations for Walt Disney Corp. to incorporate into its business model.
The judges for the event were Erv LeCoque, former chief executive officer of AptarGroup; Jean Marie Saidler, president, JMS Consultations Inc.; John Mink, director of operations at Motorola Inc.; Len Walker, director of marketing and public relations at MCC and Sandy O'Halleran, member of last year's winning team.
The judges said they were very impressed with the Dream Team's teamwork and their presentation skills.