SIFE team places high at the National Expo again
The Students In Free Enterprise team at Chadron State College made another impressive showing at the organization’s National Exposition in Dallas Texas, earlier this month. The CSC team tied for 16th in the final overall standings and finishing third in the nation in the Market Economics competition.
The 13-member CSC SIFE team also ranked among the top 20 for its Entrepreneurship projects and placed in the top 10 for a public service announcement it produced with the assistance of Dewayne Gimeson, CSC publication specialist, for an anti-piracy campaign sponsored by the Motion Picture Association of America.
The Chadron State team has placed in the top 20 nationally each of the past seven years, or since it began competing in 2001. There are SIFE teams on more than 1,700 college and university campuses in 43 countries.
Also during this year’s National Expo, Chadron State junior Barrett Hahn of Aurora won the Gwen and Jules Knapp Scholarship. The scholarship is valued at up to $25,000 and pays all the cost of attending college for one year.
Hahn and two other finalists for the scholarship were interviewed by the Knapps and Jack Shewmaker, a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors.
Jules Knapp is a Chicago entrepreneur who founded a paint business, United Coatings, that he sold to Pratt and Lambert. He later purchased Grisham Manufacturing, a maker of steel security and storm doors. In recent years, the couple has donated $35 million for medical research at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Rick Koza, sponsor of the Chadron State SIFE team since it was founded, also reported that after submitting applications prior to the Expo, three Chadron State students were selected for special experiences.
Ashley Heidemann of Ogallala was invited to the Women In Business forum with some of the top women executives in the nation, and Jamie Mills of Alliance and Hahn attended an invitation-only “Top to The Future” luncheon, hosted by leading executives from major corporations
The team members who participated at the National Expo in addition to those previously mentioned were Kevin Berggren, Broken Bow; Jeff Casselman, Chadron; Nick Fiegel, Weldona, Colo.; Stephanie Frey, Seward; Jed German, Imperial; Samantha Graves, Omaha; Cody Gullickson, Lead, S.D.; Sierra Lamb, Nisland, S.D.; Doug Liewer, Butte; and Scott Stengle, North Platte. Dr. Tim Donahue helped Koza sponsor the group this year.
Each of the students spent at least 100 hours on SIFE projects during the past year, Koza said.
Category: Campus News, Student Awards & Achievements