Ivy Tech Community College SIFE Team Wins at Regional Competition

The Ivy Tech Community College SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) Team returned to Richmond as winners after participating in the Cincinnati, Ohio, SIFE USA Regional Competition on March 20, 2007. The event was one of 17 SIFE Regional Competitions being held across the United States in March and April.

After presenting a report of their year-long community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders, the Ivy Tech Community College SIFE team was named Second Runner Up in their league and the SIFE USA Rookie of the Year Team.

Jim Steck, Chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College said, “SIFE’s hard work and success is indicative of the quality of our programs and our students. They understand the importance of making a contribution to their communities and have actively pursued opportunities outside of the classroom to apply what they have learned.”

SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on more than 1,400 university campuses in 48 countries. SIFE teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that focus on: market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills, and business ethics.

During this academic year, the Ivy Tech Community College SIFE team organized the Money Game learning activity for all area eighth grade students in partnership with Wayne County Foundation. They taught and filed federal and state income tax returns for low-income and elderly citizens of Wayne County in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service. They wrote a Business and Marketing plan for an area business in partnership with the Starr-Gennett Foundation. Students and faculty committed over 4,000 work hours on these projects, which directly affected over 2,600 people in Wayne County.

Mary Gentry-Adams, SIFE’s student president said, “Since its inception in 2004, with the leadership of our advisor Ronald Oler, our team has been changing lives and changing Indiana by going out of the classroom and getting involved with our community. I am really proud of our SIFE team members who participated at the competition.”

Those participating included Mary Gentry-Adams, Amy Hufford, Scott Meyers, Zach Sherwood, and faculty advisor Ronald Oler.