The 12-member Students in Free Enterprise Team has been named Free Enterprise Regional Champions and will compete at the Hallmark Cards/SIFE International Exposition in May.
On the strength of their presentation about their four educational outreach projects -- a career magazine for junior high students, a stock market project for eighth graders, a children's book and a career education web site -- the IVCC team won over seven teams from five states at the Midwest Regional in the Rosemont Convention Center April 8.
Team members are Tera Aukland and Brenda Vissering of Streator, Tara Brickert and Larraine Napier of Marseilles, David Burton of Sheridan, Chad Calsyn of Sheffield, Nick Dzierzynski and Jamie Lemmer of Peru, Amy Robinson of Earlville, Jodie Schumacher of Spring Valley, Connie Uzella of Granville and Amber Vanwaes of Oglesby.
The team presented a written report and a multimedia presentation to a panel of business leaders who rated the overall effectiveness of the team's efforts.
SIFE advisor Alice Steljes said: "This team did an amazing job. A couple of top corporate employees from Wal-Mart and Unilever were recruiting some of our members quite heavily.
"I think the team was very surprised how marketable their skills and experiences are that they have learned through SIFE and IVCC," she said. "Overall, an amazing rookie year."
A SIFE team was organized at IVCC in the early 1990s, and despite its success in competition, the group became inactive. In fall 1998, SIFE was reintroduced on campus and the current team was organized.
Steljes and the other IVCC SIFE advisors, Bob Reese and Mike Sankovich, were named Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellows at the regional meeting in recognition of their leadership and support of the program.
Founded in 1975 and active on more than 600 campuses internationally, SIFE is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to provide college students with opportunities to make a difference.
SIFE encourages students to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to real life situations and to use their knowledge to better their communities through educational outreach projects.
The Apache April 29, 1999