During the competition, students from four universities were randomly divided into groups that each found solutions for storing Travelers data and files within Amazon’s cloud service, Amazon Web Services.

With four hours on the clock, Barone and his team introduced themselves, shared their career goals and their ideas for a solution. Barone credits his in-class experience for preparing him to work with new people and challenge themselves academically in a real-world scenario.

“We found commonalities between each of our responses, and we would ask for input on certain ideas we had. While we never met each other before we trusted each other’s judgment and were open to criticism,” said Barone.

Barone’s team focused on creating a solution based on cost while still prioritizing the quality and speed of the process using at least three Amazon services.
He attributes the success he had to the perspective he gained in a systems analysis and design course.

"I debated whether to enter the competition, but Professor Kiku Jones expressed her belief in me and thought I was capable of succeeding. I am glad she encouraged me to follow through,” said Barone.

With a desire to work in sports analytics, he is interning with the baseball operations department at New York Boulders and will continue his education in Quinnipiac’s business analytics master’s program after he completes his undergraduate education later this month.