A team of students earned a top honor at a conference for one of the nation's largest student service and leadership organizations. BYU-Hawaii's Students In Free Enterprise was recognized as the second runner up at the SIFE 2012 National Expo held in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 24, 2012.
Each year, the BYU-Hawaii chapter identifies local, regional and global service, community and leadership projects geared to help develop socially responsible leaders while making a difference in the world. They draw on more than 100 student participants at BYU-Hawaii to carry out these carefully designed projects that go through a rigorous approval process before becoming official SIFE projects. Each project must have a social, economic or environmental element to be approved.
"When I think of the school's mission of creating leaders, I can't help but see its fulfillment in the work and projects we do with SIFE," said Asia Rikard, a senior from Oregon.
Nationwide, 575 colleges and universities have SIFE chapters. BYU–Hawaii’s chapter of Students In Free Enterprise has been a part of campus for over 14 years and is no stranger among the nation’s top chapters. In fact, BYU–Hawaii has been invited to the organization’s national exposition every year since the chapter was organized, and has been among the top 20 chapters in the country for the past four years.
"The quality of students at BYU-Hawaii and the depth of experience of the international student body are characteristics that contribute to successful projects," said Bill Neal, chapter advisor. "These projects create lasting lessons for all involved, and, more importantly, make a difference in lives around the world."
At the 2012 National Expo, held May 22-24, in Kansas City, Missouri, 17 students represented BYU–Hawaii and continued the award-winning tradition by advancing to the final round of competition for the first time in school history. Approximately 160 universities from across the United States presented their projects, outcomes and reports from the prior year and are evaluated by panels of judges on their presentation, the depth of project design and implementation, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. BYU–Hawaii’s team highlighted eight of their 23 projects for 2011-2012, including a company that sells t-shirts to help children buy required school uniforms, and an initiative to strengthen the education and economy of a small island-nation, Tuvalu.
Watch the Final Presentation at the SIFE USA 2012 National Expo.