Riverside, Calif., May, 2002 -- La Sierra University's School of Business, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team kick-started their former legacy of national championships on Tuesday, May 14, by winning the RadioShack SIFE USA National Championship in Kansas City, Missouri, edging out 122 competitors in the four-year college division and claiming $4,000 in prize money.

The team now looks forward to competing in the SIFE World Cup, to be held in Amsterdam in September 2002.

La Sierra SIFE also placed first (earning a $3,000 prize) for Business Week's best in-depth educational project for their Welfare to Work Childcare Capacity-Building Business Course, done in collaboration with the SIFE team's community partner, Family Service Association of Western Riverside County.

To qualify for the nationals, La Sierra SIFE won their division of a SIFE Regional Exposition held in Universal City, California in early April.

La Sierra SIFE's 24 projects and 5,171 contributed hours impacted over 4,600 children and adults both internationally, (Mexico and Peru) and in several Inland Empire communities, such as Riverside, Rubidoux, Mead Valley, Redlands, and Loma Linda.

Other projects the team implemented, such as the Welfare-to-Work Childcare Capacity-Building Business Course, impacted community members of Riverside County, including Riverside, La Sierra, Rubidoux, and Mead Valley. The team's micro-enterprise projects also impacted individuals in Mexico, Peru and India.

La Sierra's SIFE team, led by Heather Miller, SIFE faculty fellow and School of Business director of special projects, includes over 100 participants, and four team presentation speakers and one alternate: Leslie Lardizabal, junior marketing major, Moses Chambi, senior finance, Felipe Vielmann, religious studies graduate student, and Luke Robinson, MBA finance program student, and alternate Jessica Bearden, senior religious studies. The latter three members, Vielmann, Robinson, and Bearden hail from the Inland Empire; Riverside, Loma Linda, and Corona respectively.

La Sierra University, with nearly 1,600 students, is the smallest of the four colleges and universities (UCR, RCC, California Baptist University, and La Sierra) located in the city of Riverside.

SIFE students value the idea of seizing their opportunities and making a difference. They aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Through a collaborative effort between business and education, SIFE Teams improve the quality of life and the standard of living around the world by teaching the principles of market economics, entrepreneurship, business ethics and personal financial success. --SIFE website, www.sife.org.

. . . . . . . . . . .

by Kandi White