The Ferrum College SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) Team returned to Ferrum recently as winners after participating in the Charlotte, NC SIFE USA Regional Competition on March 22, 2007. The event was one of 17 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the United States in March and April.

     After presenting a report of their year-long community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders, the Ferrum College team was named a SIFE USA Regional Champion. The team will now advance to the national level of SIFE competition, at the SIFE USA National Exposition May 6-8 in Dallas, Texas
Dr. Demetri Tsanacas the SIFE Advisor says, “Although our SIFE Team is young and inexperienced, the students did a fantastic job in presenting their projects, and received excellent comments from the business executives judging the competition.”

     SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on more than 1,400 university campuses in 48 countries. SIFE team creates economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that focuses on: market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills, and business ethics.

     During this academic year, the Ferrum College SIFE team organized numerous projects on campus and in the community addressing issues of customer service, shoplifting, financial literacy and money issues.

     Kuki Vincent a member of this year team says “we are helping our community while we are building our own skills for success.”

     For more information on the SIFE organization or the competition, contact Dr. Demetri Tsanacas at (540) 365-4318 or dtsanacas@ferrum.edu

    Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu.