SIFE students are champs for 13th-straight year

Victory earns School of Business students trip to national competition in Philadelphia this May

Fredonia’s SIFE team won first place in its regional competition for the 13th straight year, advancing to the national event in Philadelphia this May to compete against more than 100 teams from across the U.S. Standing, from left, are Katherine Stickel, Jackie Bryant, Patrick Horn, advisor Joseph Izzo, Zack Kwarta and Christina Komonovski. Kneeling, from left, are Jessica Jacobson and Katie Russo.

For the 13th consecutive year, SUNY Fredonia’s SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team has captured first place in its SIFE regional competition. The event, which was held April 3 in Tarrytown, N.Y., earned the team a trip to the national competition in Philadelphia May 10 to 12, in addition to a $1,500 award for the School of Business program.

The regional competition included more than 40 teams, including such prestigious and sizable universities as Penn State, Syracuse and Princeton, as well as fellow Western New York institutions Canisius College and St. Bonaventure University.

SIFE is an international network of student, academic and business leaders who have made a commitment to create a better world with better leaders — individuals who have the ability, and are willing to put forth the effort, to make a meaningful contribution to their communities, and work together to improve the lives of others.

The team that represented the 71 SIFE members at SUNY Fredonia included Jackie Bryant (Communications-Public Relations, Sanborn, N.Y.), Patrick Horn (Business Administration-Marketing, Henrietta, N.Y.), Jessica Jacobson (Communications-Public Relations, Amherst, N.Y.), Christina Kominovski (Business Administration-Marketing, Rochester, N.Y.), Katie Russo (Business Administration, Rochester, N.Y.), Katherine Stickel (Business Administration-Marketing, Lansing, N.Y.), and Zach Kwarta (Chicago, Ill., Economics), accompanied by School of Business professor and SIFE advisor Joseph Izzo.

“For the first time, our team decided to compete in New York City rather than Cleveland, Ohio,” Izzo said. “This team justified my faith in them by winning another regional championship against much stronger competition. Now it’s on to Philadelphia where we look to improve on our top 20 finish last year.”

The national competition will include more than 100 teams from across the U.S. presenting the results of their projects to a panel of business leaders who will serve as event judges. The winners will move on to compete in the international SIFE competition held in Berlin, Germany.

Working in partnership with business and higher education, SIFE mobilizes university students around the world to use the knowledge gained in the classroom to address real-world business and economic issues in their communities. SIFE students form teams on their campuses and develop outreach projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, personal success skills and business ethics. With more than 35,000 active college students, it is one of the largest student-run organizations in the world.