SUNY Canton Students Compete in Free Enterprise Marathon at SUNY Plattsburgh

CANTON, NY (04/22/2016)(readMedia)-- Four students in SUNY Canton's Management program recently participated in the fourth annual Free Enterprise Marathon at SUNY Plattsburgh.

This year's Creativity and Innovation Challenge required teams to develop a new menu item for McDonald's. Students from 11 colleges and five North Country high schools vied for the first-place trophy and $800 award.

Teams were judged in areas such as product design, marketing strategy and quality of presentation. SUNY Canton's team proposed a grilled "McMahi" sandwich, which would be a healthier alternative to the chain's Filet-O-Fish. SUNY Adirondack took home first prize for their sweet potato hash brown proposal.

"The competition allowed us to practice everything we have learned in our management courses, such as finance, marketing, strategic research, and the ability to present and explain our product," said SUNY Canton student Khaina Solomon. "Although we didn't win, it was a valuable learning experience for all of us."

The event also consisted of a Social Entrepreneurship Speak-Off competition, where SUNY Canton Management major Devine Pearson took home a $100 prize for his speech about higher education.

"This competition meets SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher's goal to ensure every SUNY student has access to an applied learning opportunity," said SUNY Canton Associate Professor and faculty adviser Charles R. Fenner, Ph.D.

This is SUNY Canton's third year participating in this competition and allows Management students to augment classroom learning by utilizing practical skills in business, marketing, leadership, ethics and planning.

About SUNY Canton

SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service and recently received number one rankings in library resources, library services and tutoring services in the SUNY Student Opinion Survey. The college's faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as ten exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The college's 14 athletic teams compete as members of the NCAA Division III.

-www.canton.edu-