CONTACT: Cliffton Murove, 515-707-8527 ctm001@drake.edu;Lisa Lacher, 515-271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu
The Drake University Students in Free Enterprise team finished as second runner up in the overall SIFE USA Regional Competition on March 20 in Minneapolis.
The event, in which teams presented reports of their community outreach projects, was one of the 16 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the country in March and April.
The Drake SIFE team also received recognition as one of the 20 national finalists in both the SIFE USA HSBC Financial Literacy Competition and the SIFE USA Program Sustainability Competition.
As a national finalist in the financial literacy and sustainability competitions, the team will advance to the SIFE USA National Exposition in Philadelphia May 10-12.
 Team members gather for a photo in Aliber Hall. |
“Our performance this year is testament to our team’s passion and
commitment to bettering our community,” said Cliffton Murove, president
of the Drake SIFE team.
“We worked very hard this year and we will continue challenging
ourselves in hopes of being competitive at the national level. Everyone
on the team is excited about having an opportunity to participate in
the two topic competitions.”
SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on more
than1,400 university campuses in 48 countries. SIFE teams create
economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach
projects that focus on market economics, entrepreneurship, personal
financial success skills, environmental sustainability and business
ethics.
During this academic year, the Drake SIFE team organized 14
projects in the Des Moines area including teaching financial literacy
to more than 500 students at four middle and high schools.
Team members taught the students lessons related to opening
checking accounts, saving, managing credit wisely and responsible
financial planning. The team also held a session at the Central Iowa
Shelter and Services, spreading financial knowledge to the shelter’s
residents.
Members of the team are (from left) first row: Patrick Sheehan, Oluwole Aluko-Olokun, Lucas Dawson, Sungjun Ahn, Janice Crispin, Giang Nguyen; second row: Taylor Thiewes, Shaochen Yu, Elizabeth Schmid, Eric Griffith, Cliffton Murove, Nicholas Downey, Jinit Haria, Shilpa Aggarwal, Becky Hiu, faculty adviser Deb Bishop; third row: faculty adviser Dorothy Pisarski, Katelyn Massey, Nicholas Thierer, Daniel Mursewick, Sara Block and Ingrid Zhao.