SIFE team competes in regional competition
UST's SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team, in just its second year of existence, won a first-runner-up trophy in the 2009 regional competition March 20 in Minneapolis.
SIFE is an international organization that encourages students to create and implement projects around the six key areas of financial literacy, market economics, entrepreneurship, success skills, business ethics and environmental sustainability. The goal of the projects is to promote a better, more sustainable world for all people while teaching students to be responsible business leaders.
Each year teams around the world compete by presenting the results of their projects to business leaders representing SIFE sponsors such as Wells Fargo, Best Buy and Walgreens. A career fair with sponsoring companies is a major part of the event. Winners in Minneapolis and 11 other U.S. cities advance to the National Exposition, this year in Philadelphia. National champions travel to Singapore in May to compete against their peers in the World Cup.
At the competition, St. Thomas' 12-member SIFE team showcased their achievements, including: a financial literacy seminar for college students; Recyclemania promotion efforts (with the Student Sustainability Committee); a development plan for the new charter school, Hiawatha Leadership Academy; a marketing plan to enable Best Buy to attract more customers in college; a business ethics storybook for students in elementary school; and (with Engineers for a Sustainable World) a plan to develop more efficient equipment for blacksmiths in Burundi, Africa, to enable children to go to school rather than work with their parents.
UST SIFE's goal for next year is to recruit students from any major who are willing to work hard to help design and implement creative, useful projects in the community and ultimately to advance to the National Exposition.
To become a member of this new student organization, e-mail Ashley Smith. For more information, visit the SIFE Web site.
