Prairie View, Texas: -- The Dallas Hilton Anatole Hotel was the scene for the 2010 Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Regional Expo which attracted some 900 students from 60 university from across the country. The Prairie View A&M University SIFE Team was among the teams competing for a national spot. After the league rounds of competition, the PVAM Team fell short and received 2nd place honors and missed out on the national trip this year.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary for the Team which had hoped to best its placing since its chartering at the university in 1985. The 24 students making the trip along with the advisor Frederick V. Roberts and Mrs. Glenda Jones, Director for Career Services was the largest contingent ever to represent the university.
“The team has everything to be proud of,” said Roberts, the teams Sam Walton Fellow. “This was one of the group of students to attend and I am proud of the amount of work and time they devoted to the projects. While we wanted to win so badly, there is solace in knowing that next year could be better.”
SIFE encourages students to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations, using their knowledge to make life better in their communities by teaching the principles of free enterprise and entrepreneurship. The PVAMU team touched the lives of many students and persons in the surrounding community in 2009 with more than 40 seminars and other projects. Noted projects include: Ethics in the Global Market Economy, the HSBC Financial Literacy - Money Management 101 for College Students, How to Start & Manage a Business, Social & Professional Networking, Talent Showcase/Competition, Copyrights, Patents and Trademarks, Club Pees & Vees and AIG Credit Counseling.
The team’s newest project Texas Fashion Week, modeled after New York's, was a major success that showcased student designers, models and artists. Additionally, the team enhanced its “Panther Pete Goes Green” (Paper Recycling) Project with Student Government Association and the Environmental Safety Department to raise awareness on environmental sustainability as well as encouraging recycling at the university. The team also partnered with Mt. Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in sponsoring its Campbell Soup Canned Hunger Project and distributed more than 300 lbs of food and clothing to the needy in the community. Following the appeal of President Obama, the team also raised money and collected clothing to support the Haitian Relief Project.
Its Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling Programs continue to educate the students on personal finances and investment, through its HSBC Financial Literacy and AIG Grants for the Credit Counseling for freshmen and senior students. For 2010, the team, taking Oprah's advice to help the young women too, will extend its programs for students in Elementary through high school with services to schools in the Hempstead and Waller ISD’s.
On April 14-16, the team will host its 3rd Annual Entertainment Business/Hip Hop Summit along with Music Executive Ernie Singleton’s “Business of the Music Business College Tour.” The program, produced and directed by Anita Jones, will provide opportunities for students interested in the entertainment business and will feature a talent contest and concert.
Founded in 1975 and active on more than 1800 college and university campuses in 50 countries, SIFE is an international non-profit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to mobilize university students to create economic opportunity for others while realizing their own potential. The students also develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise and entrepreneurship.
The PVAMU SIFE team, one of a few HBCU's in SIFE, was chartered at the university in 1985 and is cosponsored by the Career Services Center and the College of Business . Members of its Business Advisory Board and supporters are Beth Allday, HR Manager with Enterprise, Yvette Barker General Manager, American Campus, Denise Carreathers Armstrong, Manager, Amistad Bookplace, Rebecca Faison, Director, Small Business Development Center, George Higgs, President, Chamber of Commerce, Frank D. Jackson, Mayor, City of Prairie View, Glenda Jones, Director of Career Services at PVAMU, Morrell Price, Training Consultant, Munir Quddus, Dean, College of Business, Don Sowell, President of Wilmic Ventures and Malcolm Sykes, Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank.
The team and its supporters continue to be a major contributor to the student personal and professional development programs at the university.
For more SIFE information, contact Ridge Fields-Cooper, President at 936-261-3579.
PHOTO Credit: Photos by Courtney Cunningham
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