myLoyalist
Home Campus News Loyalist Students Earn Recognition at Regional Competition

Loyalist Students Earn Recognition at Regional Competition

April 01, 2010

Loyalist students proved their business and entrepreneurial skills to be among the very best in the province’s post-secondary forum. As contenders in the 2010 ACE Regional Exposition for Central Canada held in Toronto, the Loyalist team placed third in the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge, competing against one other college and five Ontario universities.

SIFE, Students in Free Enterprise, was initiated by ACE, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship, to enable young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. A global organization, SIFE works to make positive changes through dedicated student teams on more than 1,800 college and university campuses in over 40 countries. The goal of the recent competition was for students to work directly with aspiring entrepreneurs and local businesses to help improve operations and profitability, and stimulate job creation.

Loyalist College President Maureen Piercy congratulated the participants on their success.  “The Loyalist SIFE team was formed in the fall of 2009 and the students’ work has been exceptional,” she said.  “Their excellent showing in the competition with other colleges and universities is evidence of the quality of their presentation.  We’re very proud of their efforts.”

The Loyalist SIFE team is made up of students from a cross section of Loyalist programs. Their presentation was based upon four key projects initiated by the group during the past year.

  • Helping Entrepreneurs Reach Complete Success (HERCS) was created to improve the quality of life for military spouses and dependents by teaching them key financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills.
  • First Glance students worked with the township of Greater Napanee to develop and conduct a survey of local municipalities. The results are being used by the Chief Administrative Officer, as well as a group of local entrepreneurs and community leaders, to identify future projects which SIFE Loyalist College will champion.
  • SIFE’s Let’s Can Hunger, in partnership with Gleaners Food Bank, was developed to launch a new education program called Community Kitchen which will teach families the financial management skills required for the preparation of healthy meals.
  • SIFE 4 Life was created with Quinte Mohawk School with the objective of teaching students how to set up and run a successful business.

“The panel of judges was very pleased with the foundation that we developed for the HERCS program and the fact that we had formed a partnership, and were working with The Military Family Resource Centre at CFB Trenton,” said Robert Huddleston, a Business student and the Team President. “They felt that we had developed a strategy that had long-term sustainability which was one of the key components we were being evaluated on. When they announced our names as the third place team I was ecstatic. Being a newly formed group and competing against well-established teams from universities, which are huge compared to Loyalist, I never dreamed we would place in the top three. I can’t get over the amount of hands-on business experience I have gained through SIFE, personally and professionally, in addition to the rewards of being able to give something back to my community. This has been a truly phenomenal opportunity.”

– 30 –

Media Contact: Marilyn Warren, Communications, Loyalist College, (613) 969-1913, ext. 2332; e-mail: mwarren@loyalistc.on.ca or Bob Millard, Business Professor, (613) 969-1913, ext. 2415.

 

Categories: