Students enter community banking contest

Grove City College students are teaming up with a regional bank in the 2018 Conference of State Banking Supervisors (CSBS) Community Bank Case Study Competition.

A team of five students will be working with Mars Bank, an independent community bank that serves seven counties in southwest Pennsylvania, to develop an original case study evaluating how the bank uses information technology in its day-to-day operations.

Students Connor Grieb ’18 of Gibsonia, Pa., Sophia Halliley ’19 of Chester Springs, Pa., Lindsey Harrington ’19 of Southampton, Pa., Jake Dobransky ’20 of Pittsburgh, Pa., and and Kyle Davidson ’20 of Laurens, N.Y. are being advised on campus by professor David S. Baglia, chair of the Department of Accounting & Finance.

Their Mars Bank contacts include Grove City College alumnus Shawn Proper ’92. Proper, senior vice president for mortgage/consumer lending, said he heard about the competition at a conference and decided to see if his alma mater was interested in participating. At a meeting about the competition, students peppered Proper and Mike McGraw, the bank’s senior vice president for information technology, with questions about the bank and the business.

The competition is an opportunity for students to gain valuable first-hand knowledge of the banking industry and get them to consider the business as a rewarding career path, Proper said.

“We want students like yourselves, smart and conscientious, to see banking as a career where you can step in and make an impact,” Proper said.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for several of our business program students to interact directly with management level personnel at Mars Bank, and also learn about the local community banking industry. We are thrilled to be partnering with the bank, and very appreciative of their willingness to invest in our Grove City students,” Baglia said.

The Grove City College students will be competing against 53 teams from 46 other colleges and universities in what CSBS calls an experiential learning opportunity.

Twelve Pennsylvania colleges are participating, a fact that drew the attention of Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking and Securities Robin L. Wiessmann, who said she was cheering the students on. “As the financial services sector of our economy evolves because of changing consumer demands and technological innovation, the need to engage the rising generation’s interest in working in finance has become paramount,” Wiessmann said.

Winning teams can earn academic scholarships, a chance for to get their work published in an academic journal and an opportunity to attend the sixth annual CSBS-Federal Reserve Community Banking Research Conference in October, where they’ll present their work in front of federal and state regulators, academics and industry stakeholders, CSBS noted.

The Department of Accounting and Finance at Grove City College prepares students for a lifetime of learning and for careers in public or corporate accounting, corporate finance or financial services. 

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