Every year for the past 17 years, the Redbird Risk Management Challenge (RRMC) has drawn the best and brightest high school seniors to the Illinois State University campus. Students not only learn about the insurance industry from one of the nation’s top-ranked programs, but they also experience what it’s like to be a college student for a week.

From July 13-18, students from around the United States and even from other countries will gather at the Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management to learn about a major that many of their contemporaries have not considered.

To be eligible, attendees must be entering their senior year and intending to attend college while carrying a minimum GPA of 3.2. Cost to attend is free and includes lodging, meals, all activities, and a travel stipend.

Kylie Maurer is the program coordinator in her third year working on the RRMC.

“It’s a free summer camp, and we even have camp counselors,” she said. “But there are two sides to it. It’s the college experience of living in the dorms, but then there’s the competition part. Teams compete as companies. They assume the roles of senior risk management professionals and are asked to guide their corporation through a minefield of potential disasters.”

In the end, the winner is determined by which team/corporation generates the most profit by the end of the week.

“It covers areas of insurance and risk management, and they come up with a product and make a presentation,” Maurer said. “These are exceptional students who have the ability to work as team members, but they also must have problem-solving ability.”

Illinois State is a natural to host since the RRMC and the Katie School itself are the brainchild of Jim Jones, executive director of the Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management.

“We are the nexus of this field of study here in the Midwest,” Mauer said. “We want to get students excited about this career path because insurance and risk management is a highly lucrative, exciting, and interesting career that students may not know about unless their parents know about it.”

Maurer said last year’s RRMC was a big win for Illinois State, with eight of the students who participated applying and being accepted into the major this year. She has similar hopes for this year as the incoming 2025 RRMC cohort was selected from the largest applicant pool in the program’s 17-year history.

“This program really is the best of the Midwest and beyond,” she said. “This year’s group will come from seven states and two foreign countries. We have one camper coming from Kazakhstan.”

Maurer said the week also consists of social events like bowling, miniature golf, a high ropes course, and a scavenger hunt. Like the real world, it’s important to have activities that build camaraderie.  

Gracie Cittadino begins her senior year in the fall. She was an RRMC camp counselor last year, which she said was a lot of fun. Her major is risk management and insurance with a minor in financial planning. A Presidential Scholar, she’s spending her summer interning in downtown Chicago, learning more about her chosen field.

“The camp was really fun, and I had never been a camp counselor before in any capacity,” Cittadino said. “I was also a tour guide trying to sell ISU to these campers, which was easy because I could talk about ISU all day.”

As a camp counselor, she helped out with the big project that week by offering tips and advice.

“These are great students who were so self-motivated and such self-starters that the content part they handled, no problem,” she said. “It was very cool to be there with them. I was actually inspired by them.”

Lauren Ribbe was a camper last year and begins her freshman year at Illinois State in the fall. She knew about the RRMC program through her high school and from her mom. She is a double major in risk management and insurance and Spanish education. Her interest in insurance is inspired by her dad who owns an insurance-related business.

“I wanted to do the camp because I thought it would give me experience and insight,” Ribbe said. “ISU was my No. 1 pick for college, but attending the camp solidified my decision.”

She loved spending a week in the residence halls and spending time on campus. She said everyone was nice and welcoming. One of the friends she made at the camp will be her roommate this year. One of Ribbe’s favorite parts of the camp was how internationally diverse the group was with students from Puerto Rico, Spain, Mexico, and Macedonia.

“It was a complete surprise—I just thought it would be students from Central Illinois,” she said. “My roommate at the camp was from Macedonia. We text now and still keep in touch.”

Ribbe, who received the Redbird Academic Scholarship, said she would 100% recommend the RRMC program to other students.

“I have recommended it to others,” she said. 

Cittadino, whose father also works in the insurance industry, is full-in on recommending Illinois State to others, even if they choose another major. But she thinks hers is a good one. 

“This definitely is something to look at as a career path,” Cittadino said. “ISU has a nationally ranked program, so I hope students will take a look at the Katie School. There’s a lot of things you can do with this major.”

Redbird Risk Management Challenge by the numbers

• The 2025 RRMC cohort was selected from the largest applicant pool in the program’s 17-year history.
• Last year, the average GPA was 3.98. Participants came from five different countries/territories (U.S., Canada, Macedonia, Honduras, and Puerto Rico) and five U.S. states. 
• Of the 25 students in the 2024 cohort, eight will be attending Illinois State and studying risk management/insurance or actuarial science.

Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management by the numbers

• Every year, the Katie School sends eight students on fully funded international internships to England, Switzerland, Bermuda, and Singapore.
• The Katie School awards over $150,000 in merit-based scholarships annually. 
• Since its inception in 1991, the Katie School has helped support more than 3,400 students who graduated from Illinois State and entered the insurance industry. 
• The Katie School hosts over 90 industry speakers on campus each academic year.