LWU student teams finish second, third in real-world business contest to help company expand its audience.
by Duane Bonifer
COLUMBIA, KY. (12/03/2025) A pair of Lindsey Wilson University business student groups stood out in a recent national competition.
The two groups placed second and third, respectively, in a business project sponsored by CapSource’s Live Case Competition. The two three-student teams were among 42 student teams who presented their ideas via Zoom to Tallo, an online career discovery platform, to redesign the company’s user experience for students from ages 13-18. Students were charged with helping Tallo’s user experience and designing a prototype for a new experience.
A trio of seniors — Abby Girdler of Somerset, Kentucky, Taylor Harvey of Columbia and Lucas Pooler of Columbia — finished second. Placing third was the team of Akram Nejjar ’27 of Rabat, Morocco, William Rowe ’28 of Columbia and Adriano Uriz ’27 of Barcelona, Spain.
Overall, Lindsey Wilson had eight of the 12 teams who qualified for the final round.
“It’s amazing what students can accomplish when they have the space to be creative, express their ideas and collaborate with one another,” said business professor Cathy Boatright, who worked with the student groups.
Boatright said she was impressed by all of the Lindsey Wilson teams who competed.
“Each group provided something unique and valuable to Tallo,” she said.
‘A deeper look’
For the second-place team, the competition’s timing was perfect preparation for life after college as two of the members — Girdler and Harvey — will graduate from Lindsey Wilson on Dec. 13.
“This has given me a deeper look at what I’m better at doing,” said Girdler, a business administration major with an emphasis in accounting. “It gave me a lot of good insight as to what I enjoy doing, and I really enjoyed doing the research for our project.”
Harvey said the competition confirmed her interest in marketing as well as introduced her to another segment of the business world.
“I enjoy marketing, but I also enjoy problem-solving,” said Harvey, a business administration major with an emphasis in entrepreneurial management. “I thought this was a really good mix of the two.”
The Girdler-Harvey-Pooler team was complimented by Tallo leadership for presenting their recommendations of creating a smartphone application in the company’s branded colors and logos.
“They remarked about your ‘sweet branding,'” Boatright told the trio following their class presentation of the project. “That shows the importance of matching a company’s branding with your presentation to them.”
Among the recommendations the Girdler-Harvey-Pooler team made to Tallo was to create an app, which Harvey said should prove useful beyond the assignment.
“That was incredibly useful for us because now we know how to create an app if we want to create one for our own business or in our own work,” she said.
Harvey said she also appreciated that the project that was part of her “Business Policy” class was for an actual company.
“I liked that we talked to an actual company, and we didn’t just present to judges,” she said. “As business students, we present so much that we are comfortable getting up in front of a class or on Zoom. The business department has prepared us to have that skill.”
Pooler said another benefit was it taught the three members of his group the importance of teamwork.
“It taught us that working as a group is a good way to solve a company’s problems,” said Pooler, a business administration major with a management emphasis.
A ‘super-impressive’ prototype
The Nejjar-Rowe-Uriz team built what Boatright called a “super impressive” prototype. They recommended that Tallo gamify its approach to increase its audience, building off the popularity of video games among teens. They also suggested ways for the company to consider reaching out to a more international audience.
“As international students, we know how hard it can be for them to find a place in the U.S. to study,” said Nejjar, a business administration major with a management emphasis.
The opportunity to “get our hands dirty,” also appealed to Rowe and his team members.
“It gave me a kind of real-world experience of what I’d have to do with an actual company,” he said.
Uriz, a business administration and communication double major, said that benefit took their learning beyond the classroom.
“It’s more than opening a book, it’s getting your hands dirty by doing real work,” he said.
Lindsey Wilson University business administration seniors, from left, Taylor Harvey of Columbia, Lucas Pooler of Columbia and Abby Girdler of Somerset, Kentucky, placed second in a national business project sponsored by CapSource’s Live Case Competition.
Lindsey Wilson University business administration majors, from left, Adriano Uriz ’27 of Barcelona, Spain, William Rowe ’28 of Columbia and Akram Nejjar ’27 of Rabat, Morocco, placed third in a national business project sponsored by CapSource’s Live Case Competition.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)