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WKU SIFE Chapter Garners Regional, National Honors
Bowling Green, Ky. - A rookie team at Western Kentucky University is already making itself know regionally and nationally.
WKU Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) recently received four awards during regional competition and earned “Best in the U.S." honors at a national meeting, all in its first year of competition. At a regional competition in Cincinnati, WKU SIFE's professional presentation earned the team Regional Champion and Rookie Team of the Year honors. The team also received National Finalist Awards in ethics and person and financial success. The team will participate in a national competition in Kansas City in May. "It is quite an honor as a rookie team," said Dr. Leo Simpson, Mattie Newman Ford Professor of Entrepreneurship at Western. The "Best in the U.S." honor resulted from a program with Franklin-Simpson Middle School. "Our group worked with Franklin-Simpson Middle School to create the 'Franktown Ice Cream Company' which sold ice cream to their classmates," Dr. Simpson said. "They generated a 734 percent return on investment, teaching the kids the principles of operating their own business and giving back as they contributed 20 percent of their profits to charity." SIFE, one of the largest international collegiate organizations, is on more than 1,800 college campuses in 40 countries. The purpose is for students to apply the education gained in the classroom to teach others in the community about how the free enterprise system can work for them. Skills applied are based on four topics: free market economics, entrepreneurship, ethics and personal and financial success. The 24 students participating were: Anna L. Barnett of Paducah; Bradley Bolinger of Pembroke; Jessica Bonneau of Glasgow; David Seth Burkhart of Clarksville, Tenn.; Christine Marie Burton of Elizabethtown; Brad E. Connell, Kyle Andrew Hammer, Kristen Gayle Harrison and Cave Kline, all of Louisville; Jeff Felchner, Casey Freeman and Emily Williams, all of Scottsville; Amanda Ferrell of Danville; Deidre Martin of Bowling Green; Laura Miller of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Kara Lynette Payne, Jennifer L. Schrooten and Stephen Alexander Smeathers, all of Owensboro; Nancy Elizabeth Pryor of Harrodsburg; Jordan Shoopman of Nashville; Eldie Neal Taylor of Russellville; Kris Upchurch of Ponca City, Okla.; Evelina Petkova of Sofia, Bulgaria, and Kevin Melton of Henderson.
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