Roberts Wesleyan College SIFE Students Compete in SIFE
(Students in Free Enterprise) National Competition this Week
- The Team Placed Second Runners Up-
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Roberts Wesleyan College’s SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) placed 2nd runner up in the opening round of SIFE National competition. SIFE Fellow Professor Carrie Starr states
, “We are so proud of all the team has accomplished this year. With a focus on adding depth to their projects, this team of 51 students has directly impacted over 3,000 lives on campus, in the local community and around the world. The talent and commitment of this team is both impressive and inspiring.” The national competition took place May 10-12 in Philadelphia, PA.
Teams were judged on how well they taught others the principles of free enterprise through yearlong community outreach projects. To get to the National Championship, Roberts competed at the SIFE Regional Competition in Tarrytown, NY in April and were named Regional Champions.
The Roberts team, comprised of 51 students, organized 16 projects designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs, low-income families, and disadvantaged children experience success. The projects spanned the Rochester community to different parts of the globe. Specific projects included:
- Providing free tax preparation services and counsel on services available to help low-medium income families get, keep, and save money,
- Providing more than 100 books in Spanish to expand the reading library at a remote village in Guatemala;
- Paying three-quarters of the teachers’ salaries in the same Guatemalan village to have in-village education past sixth-grade;
- Teaching nearly every incoming Roberts freshman about smart personal finance;
- Teaching elementary school children the basics of running a business through a fun, hands-on program called BizWorld;
- Collecting over 10,000 used books for the Better World Book Drive, saving them from landfills while raising funds for Invisible Children in Uganda and the team,
- Hosting an International Fair for Fairbanks Rd. Elementary 4th graders, exposing them to the culture of nine countries;
- Hosting an Ethics Competition contest for Rochester city high schools where teams competed on topics of ethics; Each of the winning team members received free laptop computers.
Flagler College won the overall competition and will now move on to represent the United States at the SIFE World Cup competition in Berlin, Germany this fall.
SIFE is an international non-profit organization that brings together the leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business. Founded in 1975, SIFE has active programs on more than 1300 college and university campuses in over 40 countries. Through projects that improve the lives of people worldwide, the university students, academic professionals and industry leaders who participate in SIFE are demonstrating that individuals with a knowledge and passion for business can be a powerful force for change. For more information, contact SIFE World Headquarters at (417)831-9505 Roberts Wesleyan College’s SIFE Fellow, Carrie Starr at (585)594-6257.
About:With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students and a tradition of excellence since 1866, Roberts Wesleyan College is a leader among liberal arts colleges with a Christian worldview. Roberts offers more than 50 undergraduate programs, as well as graduate programs in education, school psychology, school counseling, health administration, nursing administration, social work, counseling in ministry, and strategic leadership. Roberts Wesleyan also offers innovative undergraduate degree-completion programs for working adults in nursing and organizational management. For more information, visit www.roberts.edu.
