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UA free enterprise team wins regional award

5-member team moves on to international competition

UA free enterprise students this month are looking toward an international competition after winning a regional award.

Five elected spokespeople from UA's division of Students In Free Enterprise recapped the club's yearly activities in a 24-minute presentation to nab a win at the regional competition April 18.

"I was ecstatic when we won," said retail and consumer studies junior Gina D'Amato, one of the five presenters at the two-day event.

The others - retail and consumer studies seniors Matt Orosco and Joyce Gemson, retail and consumer studies junior Christy Ruiz and communication senior Jennifer Celaya - were judged by a panel of 45 business executives and chief executive officers selected by the national organization.

The team will now move on to an international competition, along with another regional champion team, said Tom Payne, international senior vice president for university relations, from the SIFE world headquarters in Springfield, Mo.

"Far and away, the U of A and La Sierra (University in Riverside, Calif.), were the best two teams in their league," Payne said.

SIFE, a non-profit organization, works with business and higher education leaders on more than 700 college campuses to teach the principles of free enterprise.

In the regional competition, judges looked for the team's effectiveness in teaching free enterprise throughout the year.

Their presentation highlighted the club's events throughout the year, including a community service event - Make A Difference Day - in October, a fashion show earlier this month, and field trips to Tucson elementary schools to teach students about finding selling markets.

"We had the students make bracelets, and they were sold at Divaz on University (Boulevard)," D'Amato said. "They made a $50 profit."

UA competed against La Sierra University, Fresno Pacific in Fresno, Calif., Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa, Calif., Woodbury University in Burbank, Calif., Cal Poly University, in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Northern Arizona University and Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Ca.

The regional competition is organized so that if more than five teams compete, two will move on to the international competition, said UA SIFE secretary Mike Reyes, a retail and consumer studies senior.

Schools from Brazil, Mexico, Poland and Canada will be represented at the international competition May 21 to 23 in Kansas City, Mo.

Payne said about 160 schools and about 4,500 students will travel to Kansas City to compete for the $1,500 first prize as well as other smaller awards.

At the international competition, the team will again make a 24-minute presentation but will be judged by 250 executives.

The UA team is no stranger to international competition, however. The club also competed last year in its first year of competition.

"They surprised everyone, considering this is only the second year they are competing," Payne said.

Sarah Schroeder, a retailing and consumer science senior, and Melissa Rangel, a communications junior, created the pictures and video clips for the presentation, which were projected on a screen behind the speakers.

Schroeder said the 94-slide presentation took about three weeks to orchestrate.

Schroeder and Rangel attended the competition to oversee technical aspects of the presentation.

The team encountered a mechanical glitch when the computer froze during regional competition, stopping the projected photos, Schroeder said.

"We had to re-boot the computer, and it came back up at the exact same point the speakers were at," she said.

The UA SIFE club is comprised of 55 members, 26 of whom will attend the competition May 21 and 22, said Jennifer McAllister, SIFE president.

"Right now, we are looking at our judging criteria from Long Beach and seeing what areas we need to improve," said McAllister.

Melinda Burke, faculty adviser to the SIFE team, was named a Sam W. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow in recognition of her support of the organization. The award is given annually to the leader of every SIFE team.

Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was a supporter of SIFE.

"Basically, whoever is crazy enough to devote the time gets the recognition of this award. Every SIFE team has one," said Burke, who is also the assistant director of Southwest Retail Center and teaches two retailing courses.

Payne said Burke deserved her award.

"(Burke) does a wonderful job and has very innovative and creative projects," he said.

But Burke said she is focusing on the international competition.

"(The U of A) has a real legitimate chance of winning this international competition," she said. "We are all so very excited for Kansas City. It's what we have been building up for all year."