Enterprising Roberts Wesleyan students
compete for cash and trip to nationals

The Roberts Wesleyan College chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (RWC-SIFE) will test its educational outreach projects against projects of 22 other SIFE teams at the 2004 SIFE Regional Competition and Career Opportunity Fair on March 29 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Students in Free Enterprise, an international organization, encourages students to apply lessons from the classroom to real-life situations, using their knowledge of free enterprise to improve life in their communities. RWC-SIFE has participated in the Rochester community this year in several ways, including the Women of Hope Business Camp. This week-long camp in February provided nine students from the Global Media Arts School at Franklin the opportunity to live on Roberts' campus and learn about small business. These students have already been given office space and an adviser to begin implementing ideas to improve their school after meeting with one of the week's presenters, David Dey, director of Roberts' Institute for Social Entrepreneurship.

RWC-SIFE has also sparked entrepreneurship in other parts of the world. In the city of Theethipalayam, India, RWC-SIFE has helped launch a public library, a tailoring school, and a micro-dairy farm. To start the library, RWC-SIFE collected 10,000 books from Rochester donors and shipped them to India, with the help of the Roberts Business Advisory Board. The tailoring school and micro-dairy projects remain in process.

At competition, teams are judged on how well their projects taught others the principles of free enterprise. Regional champions from 22 competitions throughout the United States will present their projects at the 2004 SIFE USA National Exposition, hosted by the Kansas City Business Community, May 23-25 in Missouri. The national champion in the four-year division will travel to Barcelona, Spain, to compete at SIFE World Cup 2004.