SWU News:

May 5, 2004

Students compete in free enterprise

Southern Wesleyan University students captured the Rookie Team of the Year title at this year’s Students in Free Enterprise competition in Charlotte, N.C. From left, are team members Savannah Parnell of Sumter, a business administration major; Diego Vacca of Santafe de Bogota, Colombia, a sports management major; Josh Kiper of Plant City, Fla., an accounting, business administration, sports management and recreation major; Natalie Wise of Central, an English major and advisor Miren Ivankovic. Photo Gallery

Central, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan University students are the Students in Free Enterprise Rookie Team of the Year for 2004.

The university’s SIFE team matched its educational outreach projects against other SIFE teams at the 2004 SIFE Regional Competition and Career Opportunity Fair in Charlotte, N.C. A panel of judges honored Southern Wesleyan University’s SIFE team as tops among this year’s rookie teams.

Students In Free Enterprise encourages students to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations, using their knowledge to better their communities through educational outreach projects.

The Southern Wesleyan University SIFE team touched the community this year in several ways, including Race4Faith2, which gathered more than 50 participants for 5K and 1M running races and generated more than $3,000 to go towards SWU missionary students’ travel expenses.

At the SIFE competition, teams are judged on how well their projects taught others the principles of free enterprise.

Southern Wesleyan University’s Miren Ivankovic serves as advisor for the SIFE team and was named a Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow in recognition of his leadership and support of the SIFE program at Southern Wesleyan University. Ivankovic is an assistant professor of economics and finance.

“This was one of the most demanding, yet rewarding and enjoyable classes that I was a part of at our school,” Ivankovic said. “I think that students learned a great deal about what it means to be an entrepreneur and what it takes to make things right and successful.”

Founded in 1975 and active on more than 1,500 college and university campuses in 37 countries, SIFE is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to provide students the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise.

For details, contact Ivankovic at (864) 644-5345 or visit www.SIFE.org.