Graceland University SIFE Team Places 3rd at U.S.A. National EXPO Friday, May 16, 2008, LAMONI, IOWA - The Graceland University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team finished third in the nation at the U.S.A. National EXPO final-four competition Thursday, May 15 in Chicago. It was a hard-fought battle including regional champion teams from 143 colleges and universities. More than 3,000 students converged on the McCormick Place Convention Center for the exciting annual competition.
It was a challenge for Graceland to reach the final-four and there was stiff competition when they faced off against major universities, including defending national champion La Sierra University, the power-house University of Arizona and Texas State University-San Marcos. Arizona came out on top in what was clearly a tough decision for the 125 judges - CEOs and top executive officers from some of America's most recognizable corporate giants. Arizona will represent the United States at the World Cup international championships this fall in Singapore.
Graceland also took away the first-place trophy for the National Ethics Individual Topic Competition.
SIFE is an international organization formed 38 years ago. Its goal is to provide college students the tools necessary to spread information and assistance about free-market, economic principles and entrepreneurial opportunity to fledgling entrepreneurs around the world. SIFE has grown from four teams and about 15 students in 1970 to nearly 1,500 teams today involving 35,000 students around the world.
The Graceland SIFE team won the national championship in 2006 (there are 800 SIFE teams in the U.S.) and they finished second at the World Cup competition held that year in Paris, besting 44 international teams. A team from China won the 2006 world championship.
There are more than 80 Graceland students on the SIFE team this year, representing 22 academic majors and nearly 10 percent of the university's Lamoni campus student population. Members of the team also represent 10 different countries. Nearly 17 percent of Graceland's Lamoni-campus students are international students. Many students choose to attend Graceland because of its perennially outstanding SIFE team. Graceland also operates a campus in Independence, MO, offering stand-out programs in nursing, education and business.
Graceland University was established in 1895 as a non-sectarian liberal arts institution by the Community of Christ, headquartered in Independence, MO. It offers more than 50 academic programs to students from more than 40 states and 35 nations. For more information about Graceland University, call 866-GRACELAND or visit www.graceland.edu.
Thursday evening, May 15, CHICAGO – Our SIFE team finished third in the nation at the final-four competition Thursday evening. It was a hard-fought battle just to reach the finals and there was even stiffer competition to come when they faced off against defending national champion La Sierra University, the University of Arizona and Texas State University-San Marcos. Arizona came out on top and they will represent the U.S. at the World Cup this fall in Singapore.
Once again, you would have been very proud of our team…the entire contingent that made the trip to Chicago for the nationals. Where ever one ventured around the convention complex, when strangers saw nametags that read “Graceland,” there were compliments and kudos about this group of great Graceland University students.
You don’t need to be reminded that it takes our entire Students in Free Enterprise team (80-strong) to make our team a standout internationally. Our presenters tell the team’s story but the foot soldiers, the students who devise and implement the myriad projects that help change the world, are the ones who make the presenters’ story sound so impressive. Once again, the judges were impressed and Graceland beat out some fantastic teams. We will write more details of the week in Chicago when we get back to Lamoni. And, we will fill in some of the blanks about the wonderful alumni who traveled to cheer on our team. And, there are a dozen other odds and ends we will tell you about when we get back
For now, get ready with hugs for this amazing group of students when they get back Friday. They deserve all the support we can give them, especially the seniors who just gave it their all at their last SIFE competition.
Wednesday, 7 p.m., CHICAGO - Not only did our SIFE team win their opening round division tonight but Kasey Johnson picked a golden spot for us to present Thursday morning. "It couldn't have been any better," said Andy Simpson, and he added, "Nice going Kasey."
It is always a kick to run down front to the enormous stage when our team is called down to find out if they will advance. A hoard of photographers jam the area, the music is so loud you feel lifted off the ground, and there are 40 smiling faces awaiting the word. Once again the word was good. We took our league, and now the nail-biting begins again.
Wouldn't it be great to own the franchise on selling men's and women's black dress suits to SIFE teams? Maybe one of the teams could use that as an entrepreneurial idea someday. Well, maybe not! Nearly every team (except Valdosta College in their ever-present bright red) wear the standard black suits. Valdosta won their division, by the way.
It is interesting the amount of networking that goes on inside the auditorium between league-winner announcements. It looks like jobs are being found. Remember Nick Gay? He is now a senior at Kansas and he was the winner of a $10,000 scholarship from the Jules and Gwen Knapp SIFE scholarship. Congratulations Nick! There are a thousand conversations going on at once here and they are all positive! This is what SIFE is all about.
We have had the opportunity to watch several other teams make their presentations and we can report that the spirit and value of SIFE are alive and well. These teams, like Graceland, are really out there doing the great work that makes this program unique. It seems like any one of the teams could be national champion - their projects include work with environmental sustainability, business ethics, womens' rights, help setting up small-businesses, helping school children understand business principles, and many others. It is interesting to note that the spirit between teams is not one of rivalry, but of comradery and collaboration. In a sense, the thousands of students here represent one big team, changing the world!
We chatted briefly with Tina Washburn and learned that she and Arlyn Love have had a fantastic couple of days getting the word out about Graceland and getting prospective junior college students interested in Graceland. You can see photos in the "Wednesday gallery," above, of Tina and Arlyn with two of these students - Tyler Duzan, of Springfield, MO, a student at Ozark Technical Community College; and Consuelo Fernandez-Nespral, of Rockford, IL, a student at Rock Valley College.
There is also a wonderful Career Fair going on at the convention center. More than 60 companies from across the country have colorful booths (check photo gallery) set up so the thousands of SIFE students in attendance can get information about possible employment opportunities. SIFE students are among the most employable of college graduates. They understand business and they have had the kind of experiences in the business world that usually takes a year or two out in the work world. The food companies are some of the most popular - they provide free samples of their products! SIFE students are having lunch at the Career Fair during the competition.
The team is off to Navy Pier tonight for some fun and food. Keep your fingers crossed for the morning. The team will be attending the broadway play, Wicked, on Thursday night after the competition, then hopping on the bus and riding all night back to Lamoni.
Wednesday, May 14, CHICAGO - It was another of the GU SIFE team's flawless presentations this morning in 1st-round competition, marked with a couple of stumbles in delivery which only seemed to impress the judges that our presenters are genuinely supportive of each other and passionate about who they are and what they do.
On the bus ride to McCormick Place, Director Andy Simpson was calm and confident. "We're starting the upswing now and the energy and preparation are coming together." He said his team was prepared and they were anxious to get the first round under their belt.
It was a packed, standing-room-only crowd of Gracelanders who proudly watched our technical guys set up during the nail-biting 10-minute preparation time. Graceland President John Sellars has been a SIFE fan for years, at other universities where he has served, and it was interesting to watch him nod and smile as the presenters scored with great information and panache in delivery. Sellars is a big fan of the team's efforts at establishing an environmental/energy-use, sustainability program on our campuses. The presenters wowed the judges with a non-stop, meat-and-potatoes approach that hit on the myriad projects the team has worked on this year.
Tina Washburn, international recruiter at GU, was at her first SIFE event and she said the presentation "sent chills up my arms." Tyler Jones, a student from Lamoni, said he was reflecting about all the hard work that had gone into the preparation - he helps operate the audio-visual equipment. His brother Cooper is also here with the team.
Gracland alumnus Dr. Gerald Mulderig, of DePaul University in Chicago was on hand and he is a guy with a sense of humor. He and Nancy Wallace were musing (with "purely unwarranted documentation") whether how the teams were dressed made a difference to judges. No decision was arrived at. Thanks Gerald for crossing Chicago and attending the event.
Presenters talked about the 80 students who comprise the team - with a average 3.36 GPA - who worked on 26 projects. They told judges how the relationships they have built with people involved in their work have meant as much as the work itself. They talked about how they stand on the backs of those 19 GU SIFE teams that have preceded them and how those teams (guided by former director Kevin Prine...who was in the audience) paved the way for their international reputation today. They impressed the judges with a detailed description (with video clips) of the work they have done with Lamoni businesses to improve the community's presence on the internet, and with Lamoni citizens in general who have changed 2,500 old light bulbs for the more efficient CFLs.
The departing assistant director Amy Dykens said she has enjoyed her time with the team and feels great about their chances here in Chicago. She has been replaced by an engaging young man named Justin Akers who said of his first trip with the team, "this is amazing...so much energy and talent." Justin is married, has a one-year-old son, and lives in Kellerton. Amy will soon join husband Al at Central Methodist University, where he is head football coach. She will help with the SIFE team and assist the dean of institutional research.
You have to remember that these students are also preparing for finals and juggling their time with lots of activities on campus. Commencement is next Sunday. It is amazing the energy and determination they all seem to have.
Jenny Jackson told us about how SIFE assisted Lamoni school students to learn about financial literacy - she waxed poetic about the long-term benefits of that project. Kirt DeHaan, steadfast SIFE supporter, flew in for the event and said the opening-round presentation was "wonderful, a great experience."
The Opening Round awards ceremony takes place at 4:30 p.m. and we will be there to catch the drama of thousands of dedicated SIFE lovers rooting for their home team. We will get back with results and some local color as soon as we have the news.
Tuesday, May 13, CHICAGO - The Graceland Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team arrived safely in Chicago this afternoon and quickly slipped into that special Graceland spirit at a festive reception in their downtown hotel. The reception was put on by the GU Alumni Board of Directors and Graceland alumnus and Board of Trustees member Don Brown, who lives in the Chicagoland area.
Graceland's greatest cheerleader, Alumni Programs Director Nancy Wallace, welcomed alumni and friends, and especially the 43 SIFE students who made the trip (many attending national competition for the first time). Alumni Board President Michael Lewis shared his special brand of inspiration with the students, the team and the program itself he cares so deeply about. Michael is also a member of the GU Board of Trustees and he is ever-present at SIFE events.
President John Sellars presented welcoming remarks as well, expressing his pride in our Graceland team (national champions and 1st-runner-up in world competition in Paris in 2006) and wished the students, Director Andy Simpson and Assistant Director Amy Dykens the best of luck when competition begins tomorrow morning. Graceland is set to present at 9:15 a.m.
More than 100 alumni and friends gathered for the reception, reconnecting after not seeing each other, sometimes for years, and then it was off to the McCormick Place Convention Center (on Chicago's near-south, Lake Michigan shore) for the always-exciting pageantry of the opening ceremonies celebration. Nearly 2,000 SIFE lovers crowded the huge hall as floodlights, a monster sound system and 25-foot-high images stoked the excitement of college students from across America who were winners at their regional competitions in March. A highlight was when team members from each state represented paraded on stage, holding high their state flags, and the assembled throng sang, "I'm proud to be an American." You had to be there, but it was a very good moment. Last year's national champion La Sierra University garnered a huge show of support as their entire team galloped through the crowd, up and on to the stage, waving high the Stars and Stripes.
It was announced during the ceremony that there are currently 882 SIFE teams on college campuses in the United States. There are a total of 1,443 teams located in 48 countries around the world. The winner of this SIFE National EXPO will represent the U.S. at the World Cup competition this fall in Singapore. Alvin Rohr, who has directed the SIFE organization for 25 years, was honored during the ceremony for his 60,000 hours of service. Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of ACT I Group, noted as the largest personnel service in America, gave an impassioned - and interactive - keynote address, urging SIFE members to think BIG. She brought several students on stage and drove home the point that BIG means: bountiful and better, innovative and informative, and GREEN and global.
First-round competition starts bright and early Wednesday morning. Our team presents at 9:15 a.m. and we will provide details here as soon as possible. We are staying at a downtown hotel which is a 15-minute cab ride from McCormick Place. We are sure President Sellars, or one of the many Gracelanders in attendance, will quickly get the word back to campus. We spotted Steve and Janelle Anders, Orman and Colleen Brooner and Sherri and Jac Kirkpatrick among the throng in the auditorium but it was too dark and crowded to see everyone. We also spotted Rick and Elizabeth Forth, of Xenia, in southern Illinois, Paul Davis and Rick and Sandy Isham, Kevin Prine, former director of our SIFE team, and Arlyn Love and Tina Washburn, both of our outstanding admissions office. We will try to do better tomorrow finding out who all is here to cheer on the team.
Thursday, May 5 - LAMONI - Graceland’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team is ready for the USA National EXPO competition scheduled for May 13-15 in Chicago. They leave campus bright and early Tuesday, the 13th. The team won at regional competition in March in Rogers, Arkansas. Watch this site for stories and photos when the USA EXPO begins in Chicago.
The Graceland team - national champions and second at the World Cup competition in Paris in 2006 - have been paired in League 8 in Chicago and are set to present between 9:15 and 9:55 a.m. on Wednesday, May 14. We will report the results of opening round competition as soon as they are released.
The winner in Chicago will represent the United States at the World Cup international competition this fall in Singapore. Graceland SIFE teams have been Regional Champions nine out of the last 10 years, an amazing achievement.
Keep our SIFE students, and all Gracelanders who will converge on Chicago to support the team, in your thoughts. The team is scheduled to arrive back in Lamoni early on Friday, May 16.
“We have lots of new students this year, and new energy, and it’s been exciting to see the team progress,” said Andy Simpson, SIFE director and Director of Graceland’s Sandage Center for the Study of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Andy has worked with the team for five years and this is his second year as director. SIFE team members have recently upgraded their Web site so take a look at http://www.graceland.edu/sife.
Fourteen SIFE students assisted young entrepreneurs in Belize to develop business plans during Graceland's January Winter Term, and another SIFE group will travel to Kenya in May to do similar work. That planned Winter Term was cancelled after social unrest in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities turned violent.
A major new undertaking with local impact is the “Lamoni Online” project which is helping small business owners develop a presence on the internet. A recent grant to SIFE from the J.S. Kemper Foundation will help this project expand next year. The grant will also help fund conferences and provide stipends to SIFE students. You will hear a lot more about this project in months to come. The team is also continuing with their Edison Project – switching out old-tech light bulbs for energy-saving CFLs. They have had great success with this project.
Graceland’s Annual Entrepreneurial Roundtable was held Thursday, April 10, on the Lamoni campus and though the weather was ghastly (cold, wet, windy) a large, diverse group of entrepreneurers, students, faculty and guests attended. During opening remarks Graceland President John Sellars noted how gratifying it is to see how entrepreneurs (alumni and friends of the university) bond with students, mentor and nurture their professional growth, and then continue their relationships after graduation. The Roundtable is one of The Sandage Center’s major events of the year. Johnny Huntsman, a 1962 Graceland graduate who built up a pizza restaurant empire in Louisiana, made the keynote address and told the inspiring story of his hard work and rise in the business world. Johnny and his wife Sharon funded the new artificial field-turf last summer for Graceland’s football field.
SIFE’s mantra, Changing the World, describes the work of Graceland’s team, but also the 1,500 other teams around the world. Together, they push forward, creating new projects, sustaining successful past projects, working toward the principles of sound market economics and free enterprise for all. Each year, the teams gather in heated competition as their presenters strive to tell their “story,” what they’ve accomplished to further the principles of the SIFE program.
Graceland SIFE team members have been working on multiple educational projects this year with Lamoni public school students at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. Andy, and Amy Dykens, assistant SIFE director, are pleased with how local students, and their parents, have responded to these programs aimed at improving financial literacy for young people.
Fifth graders have learned a lot about personal banking through a program called Kid’s Bank. Partnered with Bank of the West, SIFE students have taught the young students the ins and outs of banking, explained the importance of saving and helped them set up their first bank accounts. Bank of the West and GU SIFE each gave five dollars to students who had an existing account or opened a new account during a recent field trip to the bank.
Sixth graders have been involved in a program called JA Biz Town. The students learn about credit and how to use it wisely, how to write checks, and various business skills including how to write a good resume. The students actually applied for mock jobs, and got paid for their efforts.
Yet another new project, with local importance, is called “Sustainable Living.” Graceland Campus Ministries has partnered with SIFE for this project, which Andy said will show individuals and Graceland “…how we can save money and be good to the environment at the same time.” He said this is developing into a major new project for the team.
A ribbon cutting was held last October to celebrate completion of offices for The Sandage Center, SIFE’s new home in the Memorial Student Center. SIFE students were joined by President John Sellars, dignitaries and faculty and staff to recall team history and accomplishments, and look to the future of one of Graceland's premier programs. Graceland's SIFE team won the national championship in 2006 (besting 800 teams) and placed 2nd at the World Cup championships held in Paris.
The ribbon cutting featured a “who's who” gathering of those who made SIFE possible at Graceland and nurtured it along from its humble beginnings 18 years ago to the world prominence it enjoys today. President Sellars thanked presidents’ emeriti Barbara and Bill Higdon (who were on hand for the event) for their groundbreaking roles in getting the Center started at Graceland, including the original talks with Charles and Elizabeth Sandage and the Sandage Charitable Trust. The Sandage family paved the way with funding and other support over the years to make the study of free-market economics and entrepreneurship a reality at Graceland. Duane Sandage, Charles’ nephew, was on hand at the ribbon cutting to represent the Sandage Trust, the major donor for the new offices.
About Duane Sandage, President Sellars said, "Your visions of entrepreneurship and thoughts on leadership have materialized to make this a reality. Many thanks for all you've done." The president also thanked alumnus Bob White for funding an impressive façade for the space which includes a new trophy case which passersby can peer through to watch SIFE students at work. The case is packed with trophies the team has garnered over the years. And the president extended warm thanks to Orman and Colleen Brooner (they were on hand for the event), steadfast SIFE team supporters. It was their support that provided free contracting and labor during construction of the new offices.
Remember to watch this site for news from the SIFE USA National EXPO from Chicago, beginning May 13.
Contact:
Randy Meline, Director of Media Relations
641-784-5213
515-339-3036 (cell)
meline@graceland.edu
www.graceland.edu
