As Brianna Lindner flew to Mexico for her Spring Break, she left the stresses of senior year -- her schoolwork, friends and jobs -- all behind. Over the weekend, she returned to those things, but one stress wasn't waiting when her plane touched the tarmac. This week she will have one less meeting on Wednesday, fewer clients to meet with on Thursday and Friday and fewer presentations to create and present on Saturday and Sunday. And on Tuesday she no longer has to worry about being fired from The Associate.
At the March 15 meeting, Lindner became the third Associate candidate to be fired in the College of Business and Economic's on-campus spin-off of "The Apprentice." Her financial mistake in the second case led local businessman and head judge Ed Hale to his decision.
"I was surprised. I had no idea who they were going to fire," the finance major and Spanish minor said. "I don't think anyone knew who they were going to fire."
Hale has remained consistent in firing the last person he addresses in the boardroom. He came in from the hallway with fellow judges Dennis Finnegan and TU President Robert Caret and spoke to Lindner's teammates Megan Olmert and Truong Doan before speaking with Lindler.
The minute Hale spoke to Olmert, Lindner realized she was the one.
"As soon as he said Megan's name, I knew," Lindner said. "It was just as Steve said: the last person is going to get fired."
In spite of the sudden reality check, Lindner said she was fine with the firing, especially since she thought she was a goner the week before. In the case study that saw Steve Kruskamp Jr. fired, Lindner had made a financial mistake that, she thought, singled her out.
She arranged her schedule thinking she would not be returning for the competition, but Hale spared her. He instead fired Kruskamp because he was responsible for not checking the work.
Lindner had what she called an "extra bonus" as she stayed with The Associate for an additional week. It was one more week for her to be part of one of her greatest college experiences.
Linder's time with The Associate meant a lot, in the form of knowledge, networks and confidence. Looking back, she said "everything" about the competition made it "an amazing learning experience."
Lindner's comfort with the judges strengthened as the competition progressed. Coming from Seattle, Wash., she admitted not knowing much about Hale in the beginning, even finding herself looking up information about him to get to know him.
"At first he was very intimidating, but he has an aura about him," Lindner said. "He was like a dad... a welcoming figure."
She was still surprised that Hale, the CEO of First Mariner Bank, would find the time to talk to "regular" students. Having competition was a valuable experience, too.
"It was tough working with some of the top students in the major," Lindner said of her teammates.
Lindner said creating team chemistry, as well as working on presentations, made the overall task challenging, but Team Dynasty kept learning from its mistakes.
"The first week we didn't practice, the second week we didn't check our work and the third week we didn't have that spark," Lindner said.
The last weeks of Lindner's college career will be spent at her part-time job at the Morgan Stanley financial firm and as a shift supervisor at Starbucks. In May, Lindner will graduate and look forward to a career in corporate finance.
For the next case study, Reanna Tarleton will join Olmert and Doan on Team Dynasty while Matthew Leebel and Amanda Knott remain as the undefeated Team Bank Shot. Lindner thinks the fourth case will be an "even match" now that the original Team Bank Shot is split in opposition. "I don't know who's going to win this one," she said.
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