Student
FIDM STUDENTS WIN THE NRF UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE!
Congratulations to FIDM students, Tina Dang, Andrea Urdaneta-Ranaldi and Tiara Quidachay who placed 2nd in the 2025 NRF Foundation University Challenge. The team worked for 6 months to develop a new retail concept utilizing AI for Carter’s, the largest branded marketer of young children’s apparel in North America. Competing with over 130 colleges and universities nationwide, they traveled to NYC in January to deliver their pitch to a panel of Carter’s executives who evaluated their concept for creativity and financial feasibility, visual effectiveness, structure and quality. The students were mentored by FIDM instructors, Louise Wallace, Rich Gordon, Tom Selinske and Sheryl Marcus and will split a $20,000 tuition scholarship for their efforts.
NRF STUDENT SHOW
Thirteen FIDM students travelled to NYC over the winter break to attend the annual NRF Foundation Student Program. This trip brings students together from across the nation to launch their future careers in retail and experience all that the industry offers. Retail executives in marketing, merchandising, talent acquisition, and sustainability shared their stories, insights and what they learned in their careers with an audience of over 1200. Our students also had the opportunity to jumpstart their careers and meet with over 32 recruiters from their favorite brands in search of an internship or entry level position. FIDM congratulates Joanne Yeung and Tiana Mai who attended as semi-finalists in the Next Generation Scholarship competition, Leah Tejeda who attended as a Bright Futures winner, and Gurjot Kaur who was awarded the NRF Rising Star Scholarship.
Highlighted here are recent Press Releases from the NRF of the 2025 NRF Foundation University Challenge:
NRF | NRF Foundation Announces Top Teams for 2025
University Challenge
NRF | NRF Foundation Honors Raises Over $2.7 Million
to Support Careers in Retail
See the history of our winning FIDM Student Teams since the debut of the NRF University Challenge in 2014:
https://nrffoundation.org/campus/scholarships/university-challenge
