DeSales University SIFE Team Wins Regional Championship Trophy and Moves on to National Competition
The DeSales University Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team was honored with a Regional Championship Trophy and two other prestigious awards at the SIFE USA Regional Competition at the Hilton Hotel in King of Prussia on April 12. The team of seven DeSales students competed against teams from 32 other colleges. The event was one of 21 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the nation. As winners of the regional event, the team will go on to compete in the National Competition in Kansas City in May.
The DeSales SIFE team won the Regional Championship Trophy, which includes a cash prize of $1,500, and two out of four Special Topics awards in the area of National Free Markets and the National Entrepreneurship. Both awards include a cash prize of $500.
According to Michael Krajsa, faculty member in the business department and mentor of the DeSales SIFE team, it has been a record-breaking year for SIFE members. The seven DeSales students who participated in the regional competition are among 90 students at DeSales who are members of the SIFE team.
The presentation by the DeSales SIFE team focused on their trip to Peru last August, as part of a Heifer International Project. The students engaged in service learning in the remote village of Cuchuma, located high in the Andes. Upon their return, the students initiated more than 30 activities that have helped Heifer International assist the villagers to move beyond subsistence farming.
"The students work hard and are very innovative, compassionate and real-time in their projects," said Krajsa. "The judges at the competition could sense the students' passion, creativity and efforts, as the students shared their adventures and talked about how the SIFE team has touched, and continues to touch, people's lives. The extra awards were well earned."
The presenters from the DeSales SIFE team will go on to compete in the SIFE National Competition in Kansas City, May 21 to 24, where it will be one of almost 200 colleges and universities competing for grand winner. Along with a trophy and monetary awards, the winner of the national event receives an invitation to the World Cup SIFE competition in Canada. They also will have their picture on Kellogg's Rice Crisps for three months.
Members of the DeSales SIFE team who presented at the regional competition were: Mike Kovach '05, accounting and finance major, of Allentown, Pa.; Elizabeth Pfister '07, nursing major, of Shippensburg, Pa.; Brandon Fogal '06, business communications major, of Jim Thorpe, Pa.; Vince Coglianese '08, political science major, of Camp Lejiune, N.C.; Robert Day '08, nursing major, of Wilmington, DE; Brian Radziwill '07, communications major, of Cherry Hill, N.J., and Stephanie Schultz '07, management and science major, of Barrington, Ill. Also participating on the team was Varun Bhandari, a senior at Whitehall High School, Varun Bhandari, who is a DeSales scholarship recipient.
Kovach, SIFE team president, believes that the team has a good chance of winning the national cup, in part, due to the "seeds that were planted with our global partners in Peru." The relationship with the city of Cuchuma in Peru was the base for the project.
SIFE is an international non-profit organization active in over 1,800 university campuses in more than 40 countries. SIFE teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that teach: market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills and business ethics. Their projects are judged at competitions based on their creativity, innovation and effectiveness.
For more information on the SIFE team at DeSales University, please contact Mr. Michael Krajsa, member of the business faculty at DeSales and mentor to the DeSales SIFE team, at (610) 282-1100, ext. 1856.
Press Release: DeSales University SIFE Team Wins Regional Championship Trophy and Moves on to National Competition | Posted on: 4/18/2005
For more info:
Tom McNamara, Executive Director of Communications
DeSales University | 2255 Station Avenue | Center Valley, PA 18034
610.282.1100 x1219 | Tom.McNamara@desales.edu |
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