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¾¨Ó㴫ý Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) successfully defended its divisional championship at the SIFE Regional Competition April 8 in Philadelphia.

The regional win qualifies the team to participate in the national competition May 13-15 in Chicago.

¾¨Ó㴫ý SIFE students who attended or were instrumental in the presentation are: president Nathan Capello; vice presidents Jeff Downey and Ashley Carnahan; secretary Ashley Stebor; treasurer Louis Simeone; public relations chair Matthew Saines; historian Cortney Fry; seniors Crystal Arbore, Jared Foster, Jack Marti, and immediate past president Brett Turk; underclassmen Cory Baker, Alex Bugel, Jordan Flaim, Jacob Hagmaier, Sarah James, Steven LaRue, Brian Leonhard, Jonathan Marlowe, Kyle Pierce, Steve Previs, Blair Varner, and Alexander "AJ" Virostek.

"We competed against teams from over 40 schools in seven divisions," said David Smith, ¾¨Ó㴫ý assistant professor of accounting and the group's adviser. "The competition comprised a presentation of each team's accomplishments for the year."

The ¾¨Ó㴫ý group put together a list of community service accomplishments involving the College, neighboring high schools, local children, the production of a video anti-piracy commercial, and a start with a new restaurant in New Wilmington.

"Our team spent weeks preparing and developing its presentation," Smith said. "Assistant professor [of communication studies Dr.] Colleen Burke Deisler attended one of the practice sessions and gave the team several valuable pointers on presentations. Although only 10 of the 21 traveling members actually presented, all 21 worked well together as they contributed through production and operation of the audio-visual presentation, critique of the speeches during practice, and scouting of the competition--an especially important effort."

The goals of SIFE are to promote financial, economic, and ethical well-being in the community through the members' knowledge and experience in market economics, entrepreneurship, business ethics, and the financial skills needed to survive in today's financial world. 

Contact Smith at (724) 946-7161 or e-mail smithdc@westminster.edu for additional information. 

SIFE winners