The Franklin News-Post
P. O. Box 250
310 Main Street, SW
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
540-483-5113
Fax: 540-483-8013
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Ferrum College Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team was the second runner-up in the opening round of the SIFE USA National Exposition May 22 in Kansas City, Mo.
The Ferrum team earned the spot in the national competition after their 23rd consecutive regional championship win on March 27 in Charlotte, N.C.
"We won second runner-up in the opening round of the competition to the eventual national champions from Belmont University," explained Ferrum's SIFE President John Puckett. "The award was for our overall presentation."
Of the 15 different community outreach projects they worked on this year, the Ferrum SIFE team national exposition presentations included senior psychology major Vinsetta MacDaniel's Walmart Empowering Women project and the team's work in South Sudan.
For her "Women Moving Towards A Brighter Horizon" project, McDaniel worked with the Franklin County Family Resource Center to help women who are in or have been in abusive relationships learn to make their own decisions, get additional education, find a job and set up their own businesses. Though McDaniel graduated in May, the Ferrum SIFE Team will continue to work with the women's shelter next year.
For the Sudan project, Daniel Hogan and other SIFE members want to build a girls' school in South Sudan. This year, the team started by collecting books from the Roanoke Public Library to send to Sudan and is now working to secure funding to cover the cost of shipment.
The next phase in the process would be to get donations throughout the year to make the dream of having a school in South Sudan an actuality, Puckett said.
Ferrum College Business Professor Demetri Tsanacas started the SIFE program at Ferrum College in 1988. "This year, the Ferrum College SIFE team worked on 15 different outreach projects, which included financial education, women's empowerment, community beautification, sustainability and other programs designed to help area small businesses," he said. "I am very proud of the team's accomplishments."
An international non-profit organization founded in 1975, SIFE has 1,600 active teams on college and university campuses in 39 countries. Through projects that improve the lives of people worldwide, the more than 57,000 university students, academic professionals and industry leaders who participate in SIFE are demonstrating that individuals with a knowledge and passion for business can be a powerful force for change. |
| |
|
|
|
