Let's talk about love at first sight. Four years ago I
attended a Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) exposition and
promptly fell in love-with SIFE. Unlike most "instant"
loves, this one took.
For those who don't know (which unfortunately is too many of
you), SIFE is a nonprofit organization that partners with
businesses and universities to spread the word about free
enterprise. And students are judged on how well they've taught
others about it at an annually held national competition.
But they actually do much more. Meet SIFE students, and you
can't help but fall in love with their passion, their devotion
and their unflagging desire to "change the world, one
revolution at a time," according to Springfield,
Missouri's Drury University SIFE team, this year's
RadioShack USA national champions in the four-year university
category.
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For instance, the Drury champs started YEA! (the Young
Entrepreneurs Association) to help an elementary school teacher
prepare her students for competing in the global economy. YEA!
extends to more than 6,000 students worldwide. And at Centenary
College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, SIFE teaches local kids about
product design, marketing and business ethics by using
M&Ms.
RadioShack USA's national champions in the two-year college
category, the team from Butte College in Oroville, California
(along with the SIFE team from California State University, Chico),
runs Youth Entrepreneurship Camps where participants learn about
technology, ethics and ways to improve their organizational and
communication skills.
This year, many SIFE students started practicing what they had
been preaching by launching or expanding their own entrepreneurial
endeavors. Drury started Smal-Mart, a campus convenience store. The
team from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, operates their
own soon-to-be-syndicated Radio Free Enterprise, a tour business,
two gift shops and an online store. And California State, Chico,
formed Cal-High SIFE, which teaches SIFE principles to high school
students from across the state. Chico hosted a high school SIFE
competition this spring where, as a judge, I was moved to tears as
the teens explained how Cal-High SIFE had changed their
perspectives, their goals and their lives.
It's time you fell in love at first sight. Experience that
joy by helping SIFE. They need your time, experience and money.
Please call SIFE at (800) 677-SIFE or log on to www.sife.org, and you'll be reminded
how much more blessed it is to give than to receive.