CREDIT: STEPHANIE LAI
High fives all around. Friends Brandon Glasser and Kaytie Ayerhart's combined skills led to a gold medal win at the CPA Case Competition on March 14.

Kaytie Ayerhart and Brandon Glasser are not only from the same high school, they’re also classmates and partners in all class assignments. Each is the yin to the other’s yang as she’s good with numbers and he’s good with analysis.

The pair brought these compatible skills as Fanshawe representatives to the CPA Case Competition on March 14, which the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business hosted.

Ayerhart and Glasser ended up winning $1,000 each and the competition, Fanshawe’s second consecutive gold in the five-year existence of the competition.

“I was on cloud nine,” Ayerhart said. “I’ve never won anything like this before.”

Strangers at first, Ayerhart and Glasser met through a mutual friend and found that they not only came from the same home area – they attended the same high school.

“She knew a lot of friends I knew,” Glasser said.

Though the two worked in the same large groups at first, they found that each person’s skills complemented the other, and they continued to tackle every assignment as a two-person team.

“We realized that my skill base and his skill base contrasted perfectly to the point where if I can’t figure out something, he probably knows it and vice versa,” Ayerhart said. “That’s helped us through every project. We both have the drive to make the other do work.”

Glasser jokes it’s a competition between them every time.

These skills translated well to the competition.

“We complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses so well it just clicks,” Glasser said.

Glasser admits he likes to speak to large groups of people where Ayerhart battles anxiety disorders, but it’s the fact that they’re total opposites that Glasser loves.

“She’s always been better with the numbers, and I’m better with analysis of numbers. Even in our finance projects she deals with the number,” Glasser said.

Ayerhart says that after working together for so long, Glasser knows when to jump in and save the day.

“If I’m struggling on something … he could look over and see the panic on my face, and he’s come in a rescue me every time.”

The two are finishing their final semester in the accounting program but plan to complete the Bachelor of Commerce – Accounting degree program.

The college will host the competition again in 2016.