By the Apache Staff
The IVCC Students In Free Enterprise team was named Regional Champion for two year colleges at the April 7 SIFE competition in Chicago. The win netted the team $1,500 and the opportunity to compete in the SIFE International Exposition May 21 – 23 in Kansas City, Mo.
Team members Jamie Lemmer, Nichole Johnson, Wendy Bockelman, Tina Easi, Julie Funfsinn, Deb Prostko and Mandy O'Connor spent the past year developing and implementing a number of projects to educate children, fellow IVCC students, small business owners and community members on various aspects of the Free Enterprise System.
For the regional competition, team members described their projects before a panel of judges made up of top management personnel from such companies as WalMart, Pet Co., Alberto Culver and Radio Shack. Teams from 31 colleges in Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana participated.
The IVCC team presented both a written report and a multimedia presentation on projects ranging from Cultural Diversity and Customer Service, to Beginning a Business, Investing in the Stock Market and Career Exploration. The team also created a Website with information on career exploration, goal setting and self-assessment at www.ivcc.edu/sife.
At the awards ceremony, faculty advisors Alice Stiljes, Bob Reese and Mike Sankovich each received an appreciation plaque from the SIFE Organization.
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 the opportunity to make a difference. Students in Free Enterprise (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 SIFE team is currently refining their presentation for Kansas City, where their projects will be judged against teams from all over the world. They are also working on building next year’s team. The team is looking for students from Psychology, Early Childhood Education, Political Science, Art, Business and Health Care to provide a diverse group of projects for next year.
Anyone interested in joining should contact Reese at 224-0354 or Sankovich at 224-0348.