Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) won their 17th Regional championship.  Last year the team was first runner up in the first round of  Nationals. 

“We have great team members who are passionate about SIFE and making a difference in the community, great project leaders and officers who have invested a significant amount of project hours to make things happen,” SIFE vice president Karina Lindary said. “Our projects are cost-effective and we answer needs in the surrounding Panhandle community.”

Lindary said they have had to make changes to continue to be successful at regionals.

“Since SIFE International changed the winning criteria last year, we did more needs assessments to specifically answer the need,” Lindary said.  “We defined the needs and target audience, constructed a project goal, empowered the community and evaluated ourselves.”

SIFE presented a 24 minute presentation to top executives from some Fortune 500 companies.  The teams were evaluated by the impace they had made in their community.  WT’s SIFE team had a new slogan this year to help them be victorious.

“This year’s WT SIFE team’s motto is ‘SIFE . . . The Competitive Edge!'” Lindary said. “We want to tell the world that being in SIFE matters and it creates a competitive edge in the job market. We also equip others with competitive edge.”

The team had over a hundred members log hours into their projects this year.  Lindary said the team still has something to look forward to after their regional win.

“We are now looking forward to Nationals Competition on May 10-12 in Minneapolis, MN,” Lindary said.  “We will elect new officers after we come back from Nationals. New officers will recruit new members and assess the needs in the community.”