Syracuse University

Syracuse University's Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) won multiple times at the SIFE
National Exposition, with more than 137 teams in attendance. The presentation team of six
Whitman School students and one College of Arts and Sciences student traveled to
Philadelphia for the May 10-12 exposition after winning the regional competition in April.
During the three-day exposition, SU SIFE won:

• First place and $3,000 for the VacuGreen Project: During summer 2008, SIFE
  members interning with SIFE sponsor Macy's in the product development division
  created an initiative to make Macy's a more environmentally sustainable company.
  Their environmentally sustainable solution was vacuum sealing, used to condense
  items for packing and storage. The program has resulted in about 50 percent savings
  on freight when vacuum sealing, in addition to a huge reduction in packing
  materials.
  

  
  

• Second place and $2,000 for the Team Guatemala Project: In partnership with a fair
  trade organization in Guatemala, SIFE members helped train a group of
  impoverished Mayan women in the basics of jewelry making and the development of
  new products targeted toward the college-aged market with the goal of selling their
  pieces in the SU Bookstore. The first merchandise went on sale in February 2007; to
  date, more than $20,000 has been returned to this group of women to help improve
  their lives and the lives of their families.
  

  
  

• Third place and $1,000 for the Chadwick Residence Project: SIFE members tutor the
  residents at Chadwick Residence, a transitional home for women at risk, to prepare
  them for the GED exams. SIFE also offers independent living skills seminars to the
  Chadwick residents and others from local shelters in the area.
  

"Our SIFE team continues to shine," says Whitman School Dean Melvin T. Stith. "What
started in 2005 as a new club on the SU campus has blossomed into a competitive and
dedicated team of students who implement some of the most engaging and relevant projects
in the community and who win at nearly every competition they enter. The students have
flourished into leaders under the guidance of Professor Amanda Nicholson, and Whitman is
immensely proud of how successful, polished and accomplished the team has become."

SIFE team members competing in Philadelphia include:

• Samina Noorani '09 (College of Arts and Sciences)
  
• Dan Kinney '10
  
• Matt Gartner '12
  
• Sierra Fogal '10
  
• Kelly Le '11
  
• Adam Lindheim '11
  
• Megan McDermott '09
  

In its first year, the SU SIFE team organized relief collection efforts for victims of Hurricane
Katrina and provided business consulting to Salina Shoes Salon in Syracuse's South Side
neighborhood. They also have ongoing projects teaching financial literacy in the City of
Syracuse to ESL third- and sixth-graders, to students at Henniger High School and on the
SU campus.

For more information, contact Amy Schmitz, Whitman director of communications, at (315)
443-3834 or aemehrin@syr.edu.