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Over 800 students participated in Global Trade Simulation Day last Thursday night, Oct. 16, in Cass gymnasium.

The event for Business 101 students pits teams representing 40 countries against each other, as they traded, begged, bought and maybe sometimes stole “commodities” and “cash” in a simulation of real-world trade negotiations.

Trade data from 2023, the most recent available, was used in the simulation. Countries were divided between the different sections of Business 101, and each was given a folder of cards representing their owned resources. Students ran around the room, trading the cards based on a set of goals revealed to the teams at the start of the session.

Excitement and nerves were flowing as trading began. Students would have 40 minutes to find and procure from other teams the commodities their countries needed, like minerals, machinery, manufactured goods and chemicals.

"(The simulation) was started as a research project in the mid-1990s by a few of our faculty members," said Britt Shirley, coordinator of business 101 and now organizer of the event. "I think that the purpose of their research project was to figure out how to incorporate different types of experiential learning techniques into international education."

During the event, Adam Stafford ’26 and Vincentas Eidukas ’29 represented Indonesia.

“Our strategy is (to) get rid of all of our exports here, and keep or get some more imports for us,” Stafford said. “We're kind of small, so I feel like we have a chance to get the raw materials that we need.”

The two students worked the room, and with 15 minutes left in the simulation, they were still on the trading floor.

“We did good,” they agreed, with just a few minutes to spare.

“We got a little desperate at the end,” Eidukas said, explaining that they had lost three “global dollars,” the currency used in the simulation.

Business 101 instructors also roamed the trading floor, often sitting down at tables to assist or coach students through their trades.

A group of students from Shirley’s classes represented Australia.

Carter Shamis ’28 played “head of state” for Australia and was tasked with building consensus for the country’s goals and policies and articulating the country’s position on issues.

“Our strategy as one of the smaller nations is to work with other smaller nations to get the stuff. We don't have enough to sell, to trade with the bigger nations, so we're trying to target the smaller ones,” Shamis said before the event.

Adriana Girarde ’28 was Australia’s finance minister, the “banker.”

“We took no loan. We sold all of our exports available and imported more than we needed to import, and we’re still left with over three global dollars,” Girarde said.

Shamis said the beginning was stressful because their team members all went out to sell at the same time, and not everyone had a way to buy.

“We had to pivot in the middle,” he said, explaining that the team members needed more cash on hand to get business done.

Both Shamis and Girarde said the simulation was a crash course in real-life lessons, like making connections and delegating tasks. Another classmate, Brady Schmidt ’28, representing Finland, agreed, saying his big takeaway from the night was about decision-making.

“Take time with your decisions,” he said. “If you rush, you never know if there’s someone else out there who might be willing to give more for something you have.”