Portland, Oregon, March 31, 2004 - The Concordia University Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team matched its educational outreach projects against other SIFE Teams at the 2004 Students In Free Enterprise Regional Competition and Career Opportunity Fair March 31, 2004, in Seattle, Washington. A panel of judges honored Concordia University students Jennifer Belden, Audrie Lambert, Marcus Riley, and Hirav Dave with the "Rookie of the Year" award.

Students In Free Enterprise encourages students to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations, using their knowledge to better their communities through educational outreach projects. Concordia University SIFE touched the community this year through projects such as: Global Envision, an Internet project sponsored by Mercy Corps; site visits with Kettle Foods in Salem, Oregon; classroom marketing projects for Burgerville; and community service projects with the Portland Rescue Mission.

Students In Free Enterprise encourages students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real life situations, helping to better their communities through educational outreach projects.

At competition, teams are judged on how well their projects taught others the principles of free enterprise. This year's panel of judges included representatives from Schreiber Foods, Albertsons, Campbell's Soups, E & J Gallo Winery, Radio Shack, Office Depot, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Waste Management, and Wells Fargo Financial. In addition to serving as competition judges, these companies also actively recruited SIFE students for hundreds of paid summer internships throughout the U.S. The Regional Competition was sponsored by Schreiber Foods, a global leader in dairy products and food services.

David McNamee serves as advisor for the SIFE Team and was named a Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow in recognition of his leadership and support of the SIFE program at Concordia University. "I've had a variety of challenges in my professional life." Said McNamee, "But none have been as personally satisfying as helping these students launch SIFE and compete so well in their first year. Their effort is truly remarkable."

Founded in 1975 and active on more than 1600 college and university campuses in 37 countries, SIFE is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to provide students the opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise. For more information, contact Concordia University's School of Management at (503) 280-8600 or Michelle West, Director of Public & Media Relations, SIFE World Headquarters at (417) 575-3517, or visit sife.org.






Contributed by David McNamee of Concordia University, Portland, Oregon.

To read another Global Envision article about microcredit, see Lessons from the Field: ICTs in Microfinance.