FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2005
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

MUW SIFE team wins at regional competition

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- The Mississippi University for Women Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team returned to Columbus as winners after participating in the New Orleans SIFE USA Regional Competition.

The team took the trophy over two other rookie teams from Talladega College and Southeastern Louisiana University at Hammond. The event was one of 21 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the USA in April.

MUW’s SIFE team presenters included Todd Mordecai of Columbus, Secretary Jacqueline Jones of Starkville, President Tim Fields of Columbus and Renaird Sanford of West Point. Their faculty advisor, Dr. Janie R. Gregg, was awarded a SIFE International Sam Walton Fellowship.

Sanford, a senior management major, said, "Presenting our projects at a regional competition was a great experience for me. We met so many people from other schools and learned how they had coordinated projects. We obtained many ideas that we can bring back to our community."

Dr. Gregg added, "The students came away with great confidence in themselves. Many of the executives openly praised them on their presentation skills and for all they had accomplished in such a short time (less than three months). The students also interviewed with several companies who were recruiting during the event."

MUW's SIFE team started in February in the entrepreneurship class offered in the Division of Business and Communication.

The students created four worthwhile projects, including an entrepreneurial speaker series in which local entrepreneurs come to the class and discuss their experiences in starting and operating a business.

One group brought underprivileged youth to the campus and taught the youth and their mothers how to get on-line and purchase products as well as how to start a checking account. They later took the families to dinner and discussed managing the money they were using for dinner to cover the costs of what they were purchasing.

A second group taught high school seniors how to open a bank account and the importance of keeping the balance on a daily basis to avoid overwriting the account and discussed the importance of saving for the future.

The third group of students taught the elderly at a local facility to recognize and avoid Medicare scams, how to prevent identity theft and how to report and deal with fraudulent telemarketers. The senior citizens were given a brochure with telephone numbers related to reporting scams to the proper authorities.

SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on more than 1,800 university campuses in more than 40 countries. SIFE teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills and business ethics.

Corporate executives from major Fortune 500 companies judge their projects on creativity, innovation and effectiveness.