USF free enterprise student group wins regional competition
TAMPA, FL (April 5, 2007) – The University of South Florida Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team was named Regional Champion at this year’s SIFE USA Regional Competition April 2. As winners of the regional competition, the team advances to the national level of competition to be held May 6 -9 in Dallas, Texas. They will compete against all of the regional champions from the 17 regions around the country for the opportunity to represent the United States at the SIFE World Cup in New York City in October.
SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on over 1400 university campuses in more than 40 countries. SIFE Teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, success skills, financial literacy and business ethics. Their projects are judged on creativity, innovation and effectiveness.
In addition to learning how to be fiscally responsible during the academic year, USF’s team also donated four computers to Abundant Life Worship Center as one of 15 projects organized by the students in the Tampa Bay Area community. They put in more than 3,300 hours of volunteer time that directly affected more than 3,900 people.
“The team has worked very hard this year to build a tradition of its own,” said Dameion Lovett, assistant director, student financial aid. “In two very short years, we have established a group that is unlike any other organization on campus.”
One of USF SIFE’s main goals was to make a strong showing at the regional competition and the students worked to be competitive with the Flagler College SIFE team, considered one of the best schools in the nation. The Flagler team has represented the United States in the SIFE World Cup. The USF team was headed by Ferdian Jap, a graduate student in USF’s Entrepreneurship Master’s Program. This Master of Science degree is offered in a unique, innovative and interdisciplinary one-year program. The course of study is administered through USF’s Center for Entrepreneurship, in conjunction with the Colleges of Business Administration, Engineering, USF Health and the Graduate School.
“Not only did we compete with FC SIFE, but we finished in a virtual tie in the judging at competition,” he said. “We won by a few percentage points.”
SIFE at USF competed in the 2005 Regional Competition and won Second Runner-Up and Rookie of the Year after being in existence for only three weeks and in 2006 won Second Runner-Up and Best Entrepreneurship Project. The team was also honored with USF’s Outstanding New Student Organization award.
“We hit the ground running and were a force to be contended with from the very beginning,” Lovett said.
In addition to being a regional champion, the SIFE team at USF was also named a finalist in the HSBC Financial Literacy Individual Topic Competition and received a cash award for this recognition. There are 20 finalists for each of the five educational topics taught by SIFE students in their communities. The winners of this level of the competition will be announced at the SIFE USA National Exposition.
“The financial literacy component was the reason we established the SIFE team on the USF Tampa campus,” said Lovett. “The financial aid office recognized a need for financial literacy initiatives to educate students on topics such as developing action plans to achieve educational goals through financial goal setting.”
The program also taught the students the need to identify short-term and long-term financial goals, how to identify their spending habits and the impact on their goals, understanding the role of credit and how to use it effectively, and how to borrow wisely.
SIFE students partnering with USF Financial Aid staff have been teaching these concepts to students in the University Experience Program, Freshman Summer Institute, Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and Student Support Services. SIFE students spent 225 hours and reached over 200 students with this project. This project was also a front page story in the Tampa Tribune on September 21, 2006.
Complete descriptions of SIFE at USF projects can be found in the 2007 annual report at www.sifeusf.org.
The University of South Florida is among the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 76 community engaged universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $310 million in research contracts and grants last year and is ranked by the National Science Foundation as one of the nation's two fastest growing universities based on federal research and development expenditures. The University offers 217 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialty and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The University has a $1.6 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves 44,038 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.
- USF -
CAPTION: USF SIFE team members, from left to right: Mike Choyama, Vice-President, Renee Llauget, Secretary, Menocca Etienne, Vang Mai, Yuan Tran, Bola Adeshina, Ashley Watson and Ferdian Jap, President.
Barbara Melendez
News Coordinator
University Communications & Marketing
813-974-4563
bmelendez@admin.usf.edu
