While football, basketball and baseball are staples at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, another UT team recently brought a national title back to Rocky Top. On December 4, 2024, a lineup of two students from the Haslam College of Business and one from the Tickle College of Engineering won the team Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC) in Las Vegas. Going up against teams from around the globe, the win marked the culmination of a year-long competition.
Diligent Preparation Set the Stage for Success
Knoxville native Beckett Anderson, a December 2024 graduate in finance and marketing, Sarah Chandler, a senior finance major from Memphis, and Ben Northern, an industrial engineering master’s student from Jackson, Tennessee, made up UT’s MECC winning team. They were part of a group of students who participated in a year-long Excel competition, dedicating months of work and preparation to make it to the finals in Las Vegas.
The student competitors collaborated with Eric Kelley, Goodner Professor in Banking in Haslam’s Department of Finance, to enhance their Excel skills, both for the competition and to support their future careers. Over the course of several months, the students met weekly with one another and with Kelley, dedicating time to mastering Excel and preparing to tackle the competition cases effectively
According to Kelley, the students were committed to their Excel training, willing to put in long hours and face several hurdles to prepare. “The first challenge in preparation was coordinating busy schedules, which included internships in different cities through the summer, so they could maintain a consistent training routine,” he said. “The second was determining what exactly they wanted to learn and practice. The spreadsheet cases are all unique, and they often incorporate cutting-edge ideas and techniques that are not found in textbooks. Everyone had to take initiative to find resources to accomplish the tasks at hand.”
Chandler echoed Kelley’s sentiment on training and practice, characterizing the journey toward the MECC finals as “challenging, rewarding and fun.”
Winning on an International Stage
After months of training and competition against 8,000 students from 75 universities worldwide, the UT students reached the Las Vegas MECC finals, accompanied by Kelley, Josh Fairbanks, finance professor of practice, and Winston Smith, a lecturer in Haslam’s Department of Accounting and Information Management.
During each round of the collegiate team competition, students were assigned a specific case scenario, with five minutes to review and allocate tasks based on strength areas. The teams then had 30 minutes to tackle the assigned case in Excel.
Anderson, Chandler and Northern sailed through the qualifying round to the semifinals, where they faced off against 14 other teams. After clenching second place in the semifinal, they advanced to the next day’s finals.
The final heat introduced competitors to the fictional game of “Hydrosmash,” where players volley water balloons over a net, attempting to avoid getting soaked. To work the Hydrosmash case scenario, the students analyzed data representing player locations and toss distances, then navigated the cell addresses of a spreadsheet resembling the fictional game’s court.
After a tough and exciting final round, UT emerged victorious, capturing the number one spot, with the University of Arizona taking second place, the University of Kentucky securing third and the University of Technology Sydney landing in fourth place.
Beyond the Competition
The Vegas event wasn’t just a competition; it was part of the Active Cell Excel and Financial Modeling Training Camp, which included master classes delivered by experts in advanced financial modeling, power query, power BI, python and co-pilot.
Beyond taking classes taught by experts and competing against peers, the UT Excel team learned about teamwork and effective communication. “During training, they spent a lot of time working side-by-side, so they knew each other’s tendencies and were able to comfortably communicate,” Kelley explained. “In addition, students could write custom Excel functions and let the others use them. To do that, they had to clearly explain what the functions do — and sometimes these explanations happened in short order during the actual competition.”
More Than a Win
The team’s win is more than just a first-place finish — it represents the power of collaboration and dedication, as well as Haslam’s and the university’s commitment to excellence.
“We are all proud of the team effort, and we are honored to help bring this world championship to Knoxville,” Kelley said. “The competition showcases analytical and problem-solving talent in a unique way, and I’m thrilled to see our students shine on an international stage.”
Kelley added that he was thankful that Haslam’s leaders support a culture that encourages and celebrates faculty engagement with students in co-curricular activities. “Rather than having to find extra time in the thin margins of my week, I get to prioritize this work as a key component of my job as a faculty member,” he said.
Chandler hopes future students participate in Excel competitions, eagerly anticipating the continued growth of the UT Excel team. “I would encourage anyone interested in polishing their Excel skills to try out some of these cases,” she said. “The most rewarding part of this experience has been realizing that hard work and commitment really do pay off. You never know what doors will open if you take even just a small step out of your comfort zone.”
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Leah McAmis, senior editor, leah@utk.edu
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