On March 21, The University of Akron Students in Free Enterprise team was named  regional champion at the annual competition held in Cleveland, Ohio.

As regional champions, the team now advances to the SIFE National Exposition to be held in Minneapolis, Minn. May 10-12. The team that wins this competition moves on to represent the United States in the SIFE World Cup.

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On March 21, The University of Akron Students in Free Enterprise team was named  regional champion at the annual competition held in Cleveland, Ohio.

As regional champions, the team now advances to the SIFE National Exposition to be held in Minneapolis, Minn. May 10-12. The team that wins this competition moves on to represent the United States in the SIFE World Cup.

The SIFE team is led by Alexandra Frost, a Marketing Management major with a minor in Entrepreneurship. The presentation team consists of six students: Kaitlyn Balkovic, Dan Pillar, Monica Higgins, Danielle Sammons, Alexandra Frost and Matt Murdick, who landed us a spot at Nationals.

The SIFE chapter at UA is one of hundreds of chapters around the world whose mission is to give back to the community through development of leadership, teamwork and communication skills while learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise. The University of Akron chapter is composed of students from the College of Business Administration and other colleges on campus. It has a tradition of developing business and community leaders.

In order to convert principles into practices, this year the SIFE team established a number of strategic alliances with their business advisory board and have partnered with many organizations to help reach their goal of changing the local community.

In the area of education, SIFE impacted the future of elementary through high school students through various projects by teaching students how to develop resumes, create marketing surveys and develop plans for local businesses. As part of the process, SIFE members taught students how a market-based economic system operates.

The K-12 participants were also taught personal success skills such as appropriate business dinner etiquette and what to wear and what not to wear to an interview. Through all of these exercises, the participants were also taught the importance of a college education and the need to get practical experience through co-ops and internships.

SIFE members also work toward goals of social responsibility, as they did with their Greenest Greek project, where they inspired University of Akron fraternities and sororities to better educate the student body about the importance of being environmentally friendly. This program helped Greek Life take a stand on creating a healthier planet.

In the area of business development and experience, the No Muffin Left Behind project helped Main Street Gourmet develop an entirely new marketing campaign for their sales promotion that is implemented several times throughout the year. Another project, Buckwheat Pillow, helped a local business develop additional marketing tools for use in the local area. Finally, project Income Tax Preparation helped a local business improve their strategies. By doing so, this company was able to network and expand their clientele.

Membership in SIFE is open to all University of Akron students who want to improve their community and the world through free enterprise. Using a collaborative effort between business and education, UA’s SIFE team strives to improve the quality of life and the standard of living by teaching others.

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