La Sierra University's Students In Free Enterprise team won the national championship at the 2007 SIFE USA National Exposition finals held in Dallas, Texas, May 6-8. As a result of their victory in Dallas, LSU students will represent the United States at the SIFE World Cup competition in New York City in October. SIFE national champion teams from more than 40 countries will participate in that event.
This is the sixth time that La Sierra has won the championship at the USA National Exposition, with previous wins coming in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2002. La Sierra University SIFE also won the international championship in 2002, representing the United States at the SIFE World Cup in Amsterdam.
More than 900 universities in the United States sponsor SIFE teams, and more than 120 of those schools qualified for the national competition in Dallas. LSU's SIFE students competed against students from schools such as University of Arizona, University of Miami, University of Alabama, Brigham Young University, University of Florida, and many other top business schools in the country.
"I had the pleasure of accompanying Dr. Randal Wisbey, our new president-elect, to Dallas to honor School of Business Dean John Thomas as he was inducted to the National SIFE Sam Walton Fellows Hall of Fame, and then to see our own LSU SIFE team compete in the national competition," says Lawrence T. Geraty, LSU president. "We were so thrilled to see them win a place among the top 20 teams in the country!
"Unfortunately, Dr. Wisbey and I had to return to Riverside after the first day of presentations. But we followed their progress by cell phone and e-mail on the second day: national champions! Beating the University of Arizona, with its generously endowed SIFE organization, is quite an achievement for a small, faith-based university. It shows the quality of a La Sierra University education as well as the teamwork of a supportive dean, of two terrific SIFE faculty fellows, and especially the dedicated and persistent work of John Razzouk, this year's SIFE team student leader, whose vision and hard work, supported by his team and an array of LSU staff and advisory board members, ‘brought home the gold' for the sixth time."
La Sierra's SIFE team presented a summary of their projects and activities designed to make a difference in the Riverside community and internationally. The 2007 La Sierra presentation team included students Karin (Carrie) Byner, Adam Phillips, John Razzouk, Deisy Ruiz and Warren Sturt. The technical support team included Jeremy Ramos and Jared Herling. During the competition, each SIFE team develops a 24-minute live/multimedia presentation, and distributes a four-page annual report summarizing their projects. Judges are executives from SIFE-sponsoring companies. For the final four rounds of competition in Dallas, all judges were chief executive officers of their respective companies. Judges evaluate projects for creativity, innovation and effectiveness.
For its presentation, the LSU SIFE team focused on seven projects: Kalaala Scrubs, SIFE Bottled Water, Success Skills, Turning Silver to Gold, Harambee Development, Sisters Around the World, and Build-A-Village. For details about each of these projects, visit the LSU website at lasierra.edu/news/2007/may/sife_natl_chmps.html.
