Real world experience found in SIFE

The members of the University of Tennessee chapter of Students in Free Enterprise are working hard to prepare themselves for the world of life after college.

SIFE is a nationally sponsored program whose mission is to provide college students with the best opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise. Kent Luton, president of SIFE, said that since this is the organization's first year of existence here at UT, many of the members didn't know what to expect at first.

"You have to really take on responsibility," he said. "Sometimes it takes five minutes, sometimes it takes two hours."

Luton said that SIFE is currently involved in more than 30 projects to benefit the community, whether it be helping out at homeless shelters or seminars to help local Boy Scouts earn their merit badges. He said that SIFE has also set up tables in several cafeterias around campus to help students find out different ways to avoid debt while they are in college.

"Our major focus is educating the college campus through co-sponsoring professional activities," he said. "Personal finance has been a big target of ours in our first year."

One of the programs SIFE participated in was a fund-raiser for Lonsdale Elementary School to upgrade its computer labs. Luton said that they held a community cash drive in cooperation with Food City. Gift certificates were sold, with a portion of the proceeds going to Lonsdale.

"We've taken that school as the one we're gonna help," he said. "We're looking to do a couple more things with them before we go to competition." The programs that SIFE participates in are all targeting their regional competition to be held in Memphis in April. Luton said that the team members will give a 25-minute presentation explaining the projects they completed.

He said that while the team is in Memphis, they will be able to talk to representatives from large corporations like Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart that are also participating in the competition.

"That's what SIFE offers to students," he said. "It gives them an opportunity to look at those corporations and those corporations to look at them."

Luton said that SIFE started out in the College of Business, but he added that he doesn't think it will be limited to those students in the future.

"The College of Business students are not the only people who will have to deal with the business world," he said.

He went on to say that SIFE as a whole likes for their name to get out, so they work a lot with the mass media. He said that their goal is to have students know who SIFE is and what they do.

Luton said that being involved in SIFE has given him good experience in front of large groups of people. He also said that being a member of SIFE means taking on a lot of responsibility, but learning to manage your time well benefits you in the long run. He said that you learn to handle responsibility and also develop public speaking skills.

"You have exposure to speaking to people from all walks of life," he said. "The more you get involved, the more things you can do."

For more information about SIFE, contact Luton at 522-6990 or the College of Business advising center at 974-5096.