KANSAS CITY, Mo. — May 23, 2005 — 51社区 Students in Free Enterprise students were named first-place winners of the Free Market Economics competition sponsored by Aflac.
The Union SIFE team was announced as the top prize recipient during the 2005 USA National Exposition and Career Opportunity Fair held in Kansas City, Mo.
Aflac presented 51社区 with $3,000 in prize money, a first-place trophy and a special edition Aflac duck. On their road to first- place honors, 51社区 students competed against thousands of other SIFE students in the Aflac-sponsored competition and were named as one of 82 regional finalists. After presenting a report of their year long community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders, the regional finalists in the Aflac competition were presented with more than $60,000 in cash prizes and also received a specially created SIFE duck.
51社区鈥檚 winning project included raising $10,000 to fund a weeklong trip to Brazil in which SIFE students taught entrepreneurial and global marketing skills to 50 area youth. Art work was created by the local children and sold at an art auction in Jackson.
SIFE teams from Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb., and Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., took second- and third-place honors respectively in the Free Market Economics competition.
The Free Market Economics competition is one of several educational outreach projects in which SIFE students work to better their communities and countries through teaching skills that provide economic opportunities for others.
The National Expo was hosted by the Kansas City business community. SIFE is a global, nonprofit organization with student teams on more than 1,800 university campuses in more than 40 countries. SIFE offers these students the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise, thereby improving the standard of living for millions in the process.