GWLRA Summer Students Present Case Study to Executive Team

In May, GWLRA welcomed university and college students across the country as part of our annual Summer Student program. As they prepare to return to school for the fall semester, we want to thank them for their contributions over the last four months. 

During the second half of the program, our students were asked to participate in a case study created by our Residential team. This year’s study focused on how to incentivize our residents to sign up for hydro submetering at some of our properties in effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The students were divided into four teams and asked to present our Executive Team with a historical trend analysis, an incentive, and a go-forward strategy. The team with the strongest incentive recommendation were awarded with a trophy keepsake. Here is what they had to say about their Case Study experience:

Jimmy Hamilton, group 1: “One of the best parts of this Case Study was getting to work with other interns at GWLRA from across different departments and geographies that I otherwise would not have gotten the chance to meet.”

Nolan Mason, group 2: “It was a great experience, and I learned a lot. I’m looking forward to potentially seeing our ideas come to fruition.”

Madison Brodie, group 3: “Case studies such as this one can truly help young business professionals to learn and gain new skills. This challenge gave us the opportunity to put our knowledge to the test and work as a collective towards a common goal.”

The students agreed that skills gained or improved through the study included market research, analytical thinking, problem solving, presentation skills, and considering a wide variety of perspectives.

Following the presentations, our Senior Leadership team debated on which group won the challenge, based on a rubric provided to the students. Group One took the victory with their air conditioning incentive and clear execution strategy.

Todd Spencer, Vice President, Operations, was part of the judging panel and had this to say about the case study:

“The 2022 Student Case Study working groups were presented with a challenging problem for their team assignment, and each of the four groups more than lived up to the challenge. Their presentations were creative and well thought out, and they had impressive responses to some tough questions. The Executive team was very impressed with the work, and we all learned something from the presentations. Well done!”

GWLRA was proud to have had the addition of these summer students across various teams and locations this summer and we look forward to making use of the creative recommendations that arose through the case study.