Drake’s Students In Free Enterprise members have been taking their organization’s slogan “A Head for Business. A Heart for the World” and putting it into action.
Soon, SIFE members will be presenting all of their hard work at the national level as they travel to Minneapolis, Minn., to compete in the SIFE National Competition.
SIFE is an organization that focuses on finding a need in the community and devising a plan to fill that need. This year, SIFE has organized and worked on several projects including Helping the Homestead, Las Americas, G.E.D.–The Reengagement Center, Krafty Kids–The Haven, “Brand Yourself” Seminar and C.U. This Week: Credit Union Simulation.
“I want to invest my time in something that I think would be worth it, and I definitely think this is worth it,” junior Amy Harren said. Harren is a project manager who headed the “Brand Yourself” Seminar and has been very involved in SIFE for the last two years.
Drake’s SIFE team won the regional competition in Chicago on March 28 and will now go on to compete at the nationals competition May 10-12. The competition consists of a 24-minute presentation, to highlight all of the work and projects that have been done in the last year. Six presenters speak on behalf of the organization and are evaluated based on economic, social and environmental factors.
The overall goal is to walk away as the team that was best able to use business and economic concepts as well as an entrepreneurial approach to benefit people in their community. The presentation also includes a PowerPoint presentation, member biographies and a report, which includes statistics, number of hours spent on projects, people affected, media involved, etc.
“It would be awesome to win, but realistically, there’s so much competition at nationals, so to make it to the second round would be awesome,” co-president Sara Block said.
The organization’s hard work and passion to make a difference is what makes SIFE special and is what makes going to Nationals even more significant for the group’s members, Harren said.
“Everyone there has the same passion that our SIFE group has,” Harren said. “It’s awesome to be with those people that aren’t just thinking about helping the community, but they’re actually doing it.”
