A Quality Lead

During Spring Break, Joseph Boyce ’25 and Ivan Joseph ’26 didn’t take a moment to rest, but every moment to train like athletes for an international championship in the discipline of sales and marketing: it was the week leading up to the 2025 National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC).

Every day for long concentrated hours, Boyce and Joseph practiced case scenarios and perfected their sales pitches under the guidance of Sehwan Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor at the C.H. Sandage School of Business. Then very early that Friday, they were on the way to Kennesaw, Georgia, to compete alongside representatives of 71 other universities from around the globe.

The NCSC is the longest-running collegiate sales roleplay competition in the United States—and already a well-established feature on Kim’s syllabus for the experiential learning it offers. Beyond developing and showcasing the students’ strategic sales skills on a national level, it offers a platform to meet like-minded peers, receive expert feedback and insight, and network with the event-sponsoring business greats for internship or job placements.

While participants from larger schools have mostly already passed through several sales training rounds in internal competitions by the time they arrive in Georgia, it takes a special commitment to organizing and preparing for the NCSC by the small Graceland delegation every year—and Boyce and Joseph were all game without hesitation. “I am so impressed with the drive, dedication and professional focus that they approached the competition with from start to finish,” Kim says.

It was an intense weekend for the Graceland group—while the student contestants pitched their way along the tournament brackets in hypothetical but real-life sales calls, Kim alternated between his roles as their coach and a faculty juror. Their highlight was watching the top contestants face off in the final round that took place in a large auditorium, a sales spectacle by itself. Even though it was not them in that final show-down, Boyce and Joseph already knew that they can be very proud of their achievement, of the professional growth and valuable connections they gained by participating in this top-tier competition.

They also accomplished another goal: by placing ahead of several big-name schools and overall 44^th out of the 72 competing universities, they’ve won Graceland an automatic qualification and registration for next year’s edition of the NCSC!

Participating is half the pitch—Graceland’s sales dream team at the NCSC: Ivan Joseph, Sehwan Kim, Joseph Boyce.

Visit the image gallery for more impressions from the 2025 National Collegiate Sales Competition.