Gabriella Kopalek wins prestigious scholarship competition

Gabriella Kopalek, an Owego Free Academy graduate, recently won the Simon Scholars Case Competition. The University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business offers an opportunity for business-interested applicants to participate in a business case competition for a $20,000 annual merit scholarship. 

Participants are divided into teams and have 24 hours to work together on a business solution for a real-world business case study. Thirty-two applicants were selected to participate. 

The case study was emailed to them ahead of time. The case study’s subject was “Amazon: Balancing Customer Centricity with Employee Engagement.” 

Once on campus in March 2019, they were broken into eight teams. They studied the subject extensively and created a power point presentation to illustrate their plan to improve employee culture.

The event culminated in a 15-minute presentation to school professors that illustrated teamwork, thoughtful and creative leadership and problem-solving skills.

One week later they found out they won the competition and the $20,000 annual scholarship for each of them. Kopalek’s teammates were Hannah Keiper of Bishop Shanahan High School, Pa. and John McParland of Fair Lawn High School, N.J.

“Ella” is the daughter of Todd and Connie Kopalek of Apalachin, N.Y. She will attend the University of Rochester in the fall and double major in Business and Environmental Studies.