Place à la jeunesse

The Place à la jeunesse academic competition is an initiative from the University of Ottawa’s Jeux du Commerce (JDC) delegation. The competition was created in 2004 and always takes place in the national capital region. The objective of Place à la jeunesse is to give high school students a taste of the business world as well as to promote post-secondary education in French. The winners of the competition earn scholarships for the University of Ottawa. Overall, $82,000 worth of scholarships is given out each year.

All of the French-speaking schools in Ontario are invited to register a team in one or all of the four disciplines for the preliminary round: marketing, accounting, entrepreneurship and debate. The selected candidates will then be invited to Ottawa to compete in the final round. At the competition, each team is given 3 hours to solve a case study. They then have 15 minutes to present their solution to a panel of judges. Each team is also paired up with a Telfer School of Management student who acts as a coach throughout the day.

All students who take part in Place à la jeunesse take advantage of an opportunity like no other. Throughout the competition, the students are able to apply the material they learnt in classroom as well as refine their problem solving skills. This competition is also a great opportunity for them to perfect their communication and presentation skills. The students also have the chance to interact with university students and to network with professors and professionals from the Ottawa region.