WHEN: Thursday, April 8 
WHERE: Chicago Hyatt O’Hare, a Chicago Regional Event; 1 of 12 SIFE USA Regions
WHAT is SIFE?
- Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.
- SIFE Mission: Bring together the top leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business.
- Participating students form teams on their campus and apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need.
- rTrail LLC is a company connected to VU’s SIFE team in a for-profit marketing consulting business model that offers Internship credit to students ready to bridge the transition from being a student of academics to a professional consultant of business entrepreneurship.
In one of the largest collegiate competitions in the country, SIFE teams from more than 400 campuses in the US competed for community recognition based on which of them had the most impact improving people's lives.
- 12 Area Regional competitions define qualifiers to the National Event slated for May 11-13, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN
- Regional competitions began on March 19 in Orange County, California and wrap up in Rogers, Arkansas on April 13, 2010.
- One team will win the honor of being named a national champion and represents the United States at the SIFE World Cup to be held in Los Angeles, California scheduled for October 2010.
On April 8, the Chicago Regional Competition named twenty (20) champion teams that will continue onto the National stage– including Valparaiso University’s SIFE USA team
- rTrail LLC Community Leadership Team student interns and mentors participating in SIFE on VU’s campus and as members of the Chicago competition team include: Moiz Ali, Max Scourzo, Louise Zheng, Ben Barnard, Cameron Banga.
- Brenda Magnetti Erickson, a VU Alumnus, is the founder and President of rTrail LLC and SIFE National Competition Judge.
- VU’s SIFE team is led by Sam Walton Fellow, Jaishankar Raman.
- Professor Raman works closely with Brenda and the rTrail Supervisor, Moiz Ali, to recruit, qualify and select Interns each semester based upon campus organization memberships, academic success skills and SIFE project management success
Click here to see the competition pairings and the ability of the team to rise above the rest of the participants, including major universities like Purdue.
PHOTO CREDITS: Husain Abbas, VU SIFE Alumnus and past President of VISA, Valparaiso International Student Association. Abbas is a 2009 graduate of VU.
Our rTrail LLC retail storefront scheduled to open this summer at 54 Lincolnway will extend this professional marketing consulting experience for students who have graduated from the SIFE projects into a service to the NWI region. Using the principles we practiced with SIFE projects on campus, rTrail LLC hopes to take "making a difference" within the Community to the streets for local businesses for those students ready to make the from campus to career transition.