Reflection: UAB Case Competition

“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.” -Brene Brown

Along with many others, the pandemic has not been easy for me. I moved several times in 2020 ---- LA to NY, twice while in NY, back to LA, LA to San Diego, and another time while in SD. Often “couch-surfing” in family or friend’s homes, I was grateful to avoid the cold of Upstate NY or paying an unreasonable deposit on another apartment. The time difference, mounting financial concerns, and worries about COVID-19 were major barriers I had to overcome - all while completing the MHA program at USC Price and working at Optum. 

I grew tired of asking for compassion and understanding from my professors, or feeling that I could not compete with other master’s students that had significantly more resources than I did. I kept putting myself in the arena, daring greatly (as Brene Brown says, in the above quote) to show resilience in such a difficult situation. 

Fast forward to now -- this month, I competed in the UAB Case Competition (virtually), which asked our 3-person team to recommend post-pandemic operational strategies for a pediatric multispecialty medical group in Southern Florida (KIDZ Medical Services). Our team worked tirelessly to develop a comprehensive solution that answered all of the questions in the case. One of our members, Holly, even worked through multiple power-outages in Texas during the final week of preparation. 

I am immensely proud of my team members - Holly Jain and Payton Timmeney. Our efforts were rewarded when we received 2nd place, out of 42 CAHME accredited teams, and $9,000 in prize money. This accomplishment brings me back to how difficult this last year has been, and how, with these challenges, I came out stronger.

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” - Michael Jordan

Fight on!!!