Because anything and everything is a competition.

Bwogger Britt Fossum is as competitive as they come. She competitively skates, competitively eats hamburgers, she even competitively sleeps. So when she heard about Columbia’s “Leadership in Organization” class, she knew it was her time to report. Below, Competitive Cassandra lists the top items that business majors were able to attain by trading a paper clip.

‘Tis the season for final projects, papers, and looming due dates, but there are some things that just can’t be evaluated by any of these stodgy academic routes. But what about a class like the business major’s “Leadership in Organization” that’s designed to teach you things like synergy and how to activate your inner leader? How could that be funneled into a paper? That’s why the class was told instead to go out into the real world, “trade up” a paperclip, and then present what they’d managed to acquire. That’s right. A paperclip. As if it wasn’t already enough of a competition to get the best trade, the results are also up for a vote. But no matter who gets most of the class vote, here are some that deserve some kind of recognition.

Best Living Creature: Turtle

Most Useless: Tie between a “restaurant gift certificate to the Xetava Cafe in Utah” and a box of Capri Sun.

Most Scandocious: “Leopard Print Lingerie”

Best Trajectory of Trade: Nick Hesselgrave who “ended up with an iPod mini that I then traded to a mechanic I know for free motorcycle maintenance that would have cost me a few hundred bucks in a shop.”

Weirdest Combination: “Eyebrow threading appointment + Machiavelli’s The Prince.”

Most Expensive-Sounding: “Tiffany & Co. vintage tea cups”

You Tried: Two Ferris meal tickets.

Absurdly intense Rollerbladers via ShutterStock.