Near North business students lead the province

Near North District School Board
News Release

*******************

On May 23rd and 24th, Near North DSB students from West Ferris SS, Widdifield SS, Chippewa SS and Parry Sound High School lead the province in the two day launch of the new internet-based online Ontario Business Educator’s Association (OBEA) Accounting contests.

Each spring, OBEA provides its’ secondary school teacher members with a variety of student contests related to all areas of the Ontario Business and Computer Studies Curriculum. The accounting contests are developed and sponsored by two of OBEA’s corporate sponsors, the CMA and CGA accounting organizations. Last year, the Near North DSB business programs partnered with the Nipissing University School of Business to successfully pilot a paper-free online trial of the accounting contest.

This year, almost 100 schools and approximately 2000 students across the province took part in the official online version.

Benefits of the online project for students are best described by WFSS accounting students Nick Korhonen and Jeff McLellan who attest “The online contest is a more practical method of competing today as we move closer to a paper-free and technology-driven society. The format was incredibly simple to use, faster to review and motivating for students to learn their results so quickly.”

“Our students are very comfortable with technology and thoroughly enjoyed the new online format of the contests. After the success of our Near North pilot project, we were thrilled to learn that OBEA would forge ahead with a provincial launch of our online format with their contests the following year,” says Karen Bond, West Ferris SS Business Teacher and VP of Professional Development for OBEA.

The development and implementation of this type of project involved the efforts of an extensive team of dedicated volunteers; including local and provincial accounting educators, Nipissing University’s School of Business professors and IT experts, OBEA executive members, Near North District School Board business teachers as well as several professionals from the CMA and CGA organizations.

District Results for the OBEA Accounting Contests
(For provincial results please refer to www.obea.ca )

Grade 11 Accounting Contest – Proudly sponsored by CGA
1. Erica Daniel – Chippewa SS
2. Jon Brown – Chippewa SS
3. Cheyenne Bowyer – West Ferris SS
4. Brian Clouatre – Widdifield SS
5. Colleen Bowker - West Ferris SS

Grade 12 Accounting Contest – Proudly sponsored by CMA
1. Jeff McLellan – West Ferris SS
2. Nick Korhonen – West Ferris SS
3. Rebecca Duguay – Chippewa SS
4. Michael Lopez – Chippewa SS
5. John Severin – Parry Sound High School

*******************