SIFE Team Receives Grant

The Fairmont State Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team has received a $5,000 SIFE "I Choose" grant sponsored by the Marcus Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to teach entrepreneurship and other free enterprise principles to at-risk youth in the Fairmont community. This is the second consecutive year that the FSU SIFE Team has been awarded the grant.

The SIFE Team will use the money to continue a program started last year at the Barnes Learning Center to educate at-risk high school age students on how the free enterprise system works. This program provides the students an opportunity to learn from Fairmont State students, business educators and local entrepreneurs or business professionals about the meaning of free enterprise and how they can prepare themselves to take advantage of the potential benefits and opportunities provided through free enterprise. The program focuses on providing a curriculum that teaches entrepreneurship, including a business plan competition at the end of the year. The students also learn success skills and receive the opportunity for a "Look of Success" makeover with professional business attire.

Fairmont State's SIFE Team was one of 50 teams in the Southeastern U.S. selected to receive the award from the Marcus Foundation. A selection committee comprised of entrepreneurs and business leaders from SIFE donor companies chose the grant recipients. SIFE is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes university students to create economic opportunity for others while realizing their own potential. SIFE is currently active on over 1,800 university campuses in more than 40 countries.

For more information, contact Jack R. Kirby, Sam Walton Fellow and SIFE Team Advisor, by phone at (304) 367-4223 or by e-mail at jkirby@fairmontstate.edu.