The judged becomes a judge at McMaster / Co-operators competition

Sarah Nolan switched sides at this year’s McMaster / Co-operators Problem-Solving Workshop.

Two years ago, Sarah made it through the qualifying round and competed against other undergrads, graduate and PhD students in the one-day event. Sarah’s team raced against the clock to solve a real-world insurance problem using data provided by Co-operators and then had 10 minutes to present their solution to a panel of judges.

“It was a semester worth of learning in one day,” says Sarah.

She was back this month for the 5^th annual workshop, this time as a member of the Co-operators team. She joined the company as a full-time actuarial analyst last August.

Sarah arrived at Hamilton Hall just before 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning and headed home just after 7 p.m. “It was a fast 11 hours.”  She was tapped to kick off the day with a presentation about the Co-operators, with a focus on the company’s new sustainability projects. She then spent the workshop going from room to room to check in and cheer on the 14 student teams. After the teams presented their solutions, the day wrapped up with a meet-and-greet. Networking was scheduled to last for 90 minutes but stretched to two hours because the students had loads of questions for Sarah and her Co-operators colleagues.

Sarah was blown away by this year’s students. “They just keep getting better and better and more and more knowledgeable. Dr. Abdallah and the rest of the McMaster team are doing such great things for students.”

Anas Abdallah, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, co-founded the workshop with a Co-operators colleague. They wanted to give students a unique experiential learning experience. But their timing couldn’t have been worse.  The first McMaster / Co-operators workshop was scheduled to be held in Hamilton Hall on March 14, 2020. The day before, McMaster announced it was closing and all on-campus events were scrubbed because of COVID-19.

The workshop moved online at the last minute. Students and organizers had to learn on the fly. Working on Zoom was still a novelty for pretty much everyone. The students who competed in the inaugural event earned top marks for resilience and adaptability. “It was the students who made the workshop successful right from the start,” says Anas. “The workshop went from strength to strength year after year.”

Compared to the 2020 workshop, this year’s event had twice as many students – 42 – and double the prize money. The Mac Factor, Kiwi Team and Abdallah’s Warriors took the top three spots and split $3000.

The ultimate prize might be the chance to connect with the Co-operators team. That’s where Sarah first met her future employer. She reconnected a year later at an on-campus information night where she realized there was a match between her values and the company’s culture. She’s a lifelong learner and the Co-operators gives employees one afternoon a week to focus on professional and personal development. Sarah’s using that time to sharpen her coding skills and take human resources courses on equity, diversity and inclusion.

The company’s emphasis on teamwork was an added bonus. While earning a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science and Financial Mathematics with a double minor in Business and Economics, Sarah competed as a varsity athlete on the cross-country and distance track teams. She was voted team captain in her final year. She was also named a USports Academic All-Canadian in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. In sports, you don’t get to pick your teammates. The same holds true in business. “You quickly learn how to work with different personalities if you’re serious about  achieving a common goal,” says Sarah.

Student athletes also develop elite time management skills as they balance academics and athletics, fitting assignments and studying around weekend competitions. The grit and discipline that’s required to run for hours on end transfers well to tasks like coding that requires hours of focus.

Sarah was excited to join the Co-operators team that organized this year’s problem-solving workshop. “I raised my hand and offered to volunteer.” Her colleague who heads up the organizing committee is ready to take a step back. Ever the captain, Sarah’s ready to step up and be even more involved in future workshops.

She’s also looking forward to meeting the top McMaster teams again, this time at the Co-operators Toronto office. The winners have been invited to present their solutions and job shadow employees. Sarah will be there watching their presentations and once again cheering them on.