Gainesville College SIFE Team finishes 8th in country

Oakwood - The Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team from Gainesville College finished eighth in this year's national competition.

The team competed against more than 220 others from colleges and universities around the country and advanced to the SIFE USA National Exposition by winning at the Atlanta Regional held April 14.

At regional competition, the team was judged best at teaching people of all ages the principles of free enterprise. Members not only taught free enterprise, but team members made a difference in the Gainesville/Hall County community by developing projects to meet specific needs of community members. Some of these projects included: teaching the Junior Achievement programs at local elementary schools, teaching college students about budgeting and credit management through the Peer Financial Counseling program, and teaching high school 4-H students how to budget for college at the Fall Forum at Rock Eagle 4-H Conference Center.

The GC SIFE Team was also a national finalist in four of the five SIFE Special Topic Competitions including: Personal Financial Management Competition, Business Ethics Competition, Free Enterprise Competition, and Free Market Economics Competition. These special competitions were sponsored by AFLAC, Campbell Soup, Sealed Air Corporation, and Sam's Club.

The Gainesville College SIFE Delegation at 2005 World Competition SIFE USA National Exposition was made up of Jennifer Jacobs, GC SIFE Advisory Board Member; Adam Tinsley, GC Student from Cumming; Nathan Ramats, GC SIFE Alumni; Matt Lovell, GC Student from Gainesville; Dustin Beck, GC Student from Jefferson; Daniel Cape, GC Student from Lula; Michael Thurmond, GC Student from Gainesville; Alisha Fowler, GC Student from Toccoa; Brian Gibbs, GC SIFE Alumni; and, Penny Lyman, GC Faculty Member.

SIFE is a non-profit organization active on more than 1600 college and university campuses in 40 countries. SIFE works in partnership business and higher education to provide students the opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing, and teaching the principles of free enterprise.