By Britney Weber
Senior Staff Writer
Students form a sea of navy blue and black as they scurry about–setting up information stands, rehearsing answers, calming nerves. Ties are adjusted, hair is re-pinned, encouragement whispered.
SIFE student recycles paper. Photo courtesy of Britney Weber.
“Presenters, ready!” the judges announce, starting the annual SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) competition.
SIFE is a program designed with the purpose of helping the community and benefiting businesses through the involvement of students, as well as giving students the chance to build their resume.
Fifty-three teams are given 20-30 minutes to present their projects to a panel of judges who score based both on quality and number of projects. Project subjects range from market economics to business ethics to environmental sustainability, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and success skills.
The judges are given annual reports, and students explain the projects they have been working on throughout the year as the judges peruse the reports. Judges can then ask questions regarding both projects and the students’ personal learning experiences.
This year, the Bryan College SIFE team placed second out of the six teams in their region. Not enough to advance to nationals, but impressive nontheless.
Bryan College team members included senior Ben Neds, juniors Bonnie Fowler, Brian Mullennix, Hannah Glupker, Cami Plaisted and sophomore Leo Gikonyo.
“Competition is a time in which students in SIFE get a chance to talk and connect with numerous company heads and employers about internship and job opportunities,” said Plaisted.
Students had the chance to talk with representatives from companies such as Coca Cola, Chick Fil A, USA Today, Wal Mart, Hershey’s, 3M, Dell, the Tiger Woods Foundation and Liberty Mutual.
As of now, SIFE has started five projects at Bryan: Recycling, Reality Check, Human Trafficking Awareness Week, My Future in 5, and Mongolian Vet.net Game.
One of the programs is Mongolian Vet.net, an organization that created a computer game to teach basic free market principles to veterinarians in Mongolia, according to SIFE’s website. One student spent over 50 hours changing the programming of the game in order to make it easier to use.
Reality Check, another project, is a computer game that gives high school students a fictitious monthly income and multiple scenarios for spending their money in order to promote financial literacy. Bryan’s SIFE team sponsored this game in six different high schools, helping over 1200 students better understand personal economics.
For more information on these projects, as well as goals, program sustainability, and partnerships, visit www.bryan.edu/SIFE for the annual report.
As the team looks to next year’s competition, one goal stands out–to recruit members from outside the business major.
“We want students from every major, because most likely the abilities and interests they have can be enhanced and are useful to the success of SIFE,” said Plaisted. “Diversity is good! Even as the next competition unfolds, there is the need to be creative and put different talents together.”
“[SIFE is] not only about bettering students, but empowering the community and giving businesses the chance to improve,” said Plaisted. “And our influence could be tremendous. The sleeping giant is beginning to awaken!”
For more information, email SIFE at SIFE@bryan.edu or visit www.bryan.edu/sife.
Tags: Ben Neds, Bonnie Fowler, Brian Mullennix, Cami Plaisted, Hannah Glupker, Leo Gikonyo
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