{"id":865,"date":"2008-05-01T09:01:39","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T13:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=865"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:01:37","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T21:01:37","slug":"students-step-up-to-the-challenge-at-regional-sife-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2008\/05\/students-step-up-to-the-challenge-at-regional-sife-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Students step up to the challenge at regional SIFE competition."},"content":{"rendered":"

Often, a trip to Orlando conjures up images of theme-park fun and adventure. In April, 2008, four students from the College of Business Administration\u2019s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization traveled to Orlando for a very different reason: to participate in the regional SIFE competition and demonstrate their commitment to making a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nFrom left to right: Kathleen Ade<\/strong>, SIFE members Farrel Liger<\/strong> and Obed Morales<\/strong>, faculty advisor Deanne Butchey<\/strong>, SIFE members Sharlita Millington<\/strong>, and Monica Kakanis<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The students presented five projects: three financial literacy projects; a small business digital literacy project; a \u201cgood citizenship\u201d campaign to educate student voters; a new business\u2014called \u201cStore My Dorm\u201d\u2014bringing storage options to dormitory residents; and a r\u00e9sum\u00e9-building workshop.<\/p>\n

The financial literacy projects targeted three community groups: new immigrants unsure of the business ethics involved with buying a first home; university students needing help in corporate finance topics; and low-income inhabitants ready to complete their tax returns and open to participating in a seminar about credit responsibility.<\/p>\n

Obed Morales<\/strong>, a senior business management major, presented the mortgage-related business ethics project.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group taught individuals to keep their eyes open when purchasing a new home and to be aware of the differences between fixed costs and variable rates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Competition provides a motivating learning experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

This year marked only the second time the university\u2019s SIFE chapter has competed in the regional competition. What\u2019s more, according to Morales, the students had been working on their projects for only two months prior to the event, so they all felt \u201ca bit rushed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe top teams from across the country had participated in numerous other competitions, so their presentations were very well choreographed,\u201d said SIFE faculty advisor Deanne Butchey<\/strong> (PhD \u201905), instructor, Department of Finance and Real Estate. \u201cOur students returned to Miami ready to share what they learned to help implement new project ideas and to refine their presentation skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s team came in fifth in the competition, with the judges noting, \u201cthe level of performance given by this group was remarkable, considering the short time they have been working together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post competition, SIFE team members connected with the SIFE project support office for guidance in developing a project handbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe handbook covers every project phase\u2014from creating an overview statement to conducting pre- and post-project surveys, \u201c said Sharlita<\/strong> Millington, <\/strong>SIFE member on track to earn her degree in finance in December, 2008. \u201cIt will help our SIFE group build on this year\u2019s momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morales sees the SIFE chapter\u2019s future as \u201cvery bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really gotten the ball rolling,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Orlando competition gave us the chance to absorb what other schools have done as projects. We gained valuable experience to help us prepare for future competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Often, a trip to Orlando conjures up images of theme-park fun and adventure. In April, 2008, four students from the College of Business Administration\u2019s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization traveled to Orlando for a very different reason: to participate in the regional SIFE competition and demonstrate their commitment to making a difference in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[475,595,1469,1937,2037,2416],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24156,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions\/24156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}