Tusculum College's Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization will for the second year in a row send a team to compete for honors at the national SIFE convention to be held May 11-13 in Kansas City, Mo.

The Tusculum SIFE team earned the right to go on to the national competition by being one of the top two teams in the regional SIFE competition held during April in Charlotte, N.C. The team earned a championship trophy at the regional event, at which they competed against six teams.

Representing Tusculum in Missouri will be Benjamin Slocum of Knoxville; Amber Blankenship of Jasper, Ga.; Amber Schappacher of Afton; Ryan Munson of Eden, Utah; and Ryan Tolman of Greeneville. The advisor for SIFE is Dr. Jerry Gehre, professor of management, who at the regional convention was honored for his work with the Tusculum team.

At SIFE competitions, teams from many different colleges and universities present information about projects conducted by their SIFE organizations. Tusculum College's key SIFE projects for the past year were the following:

• Supply and Demand Project: SIFE members, and other Tusculum business students, helped teach a fourth grade class at Tusculum View Elementary School about the differences of supply and demand. A pre-test gathered information about the elementary students' knowledge and perceptions on supply and demand, using product examples relevant to their lives, such as: "Which one costs the most, a Playstation 1 or Playstation 2? Or, "Which item is more in demand, SpongeBob or Harry Potter?" Later class discussion covered the same questions. The test was given again, the results revealing a significantly increased comprehension of supply and demand on the part of the students.

• Debt Among College Students: This project taught college-aged students about credit cards and debt management. An initial survey of Tusculum students revealed information about actual student usage and attitudes regarding credit. Follow-up research was done regarding how to calculate APR, how to negotiate better rates, and which credit cards were best geared toward college students. The research lead to a live radio forum that was broadcast on Tusculum College radio and television, and sent out worldwide via the internet. SIFE received feedback from listeners as far away as Dublin, Ireland.

• Investment Club: The SIFE organization also made a presentation to an investment club that meets monthly at Tusculum College regarding how best to determine the performance and financial situation of a company in order to determine whether it is a good choice for stock purchase. The presentation compared two technology stocks to the club, and on the basis of the presentation the club actually made a stock purchase decision. As part of this project the club also received feedback from local business leaders involved in the investment club.

• Internet School Store Project: With cooperation of the college's Information Systems Department, the SIFE group founded an Internet school store for Tusculum College, accessible through the college Web site. The store allows students, parents, alumni, and Tusculum fans to go online and order Tusculum apparel and souvenirs. SIFE members photographed merchandise for display on the site. Other members worked to make sure that credit cards could be used to make purchases from the site. Marketing ideas for the site were developed. Future plans are in the works so that books for classes can be purchased early.

• Budgeting Project: SIFE members taught the importance of budgeting to a senior economics class at West Greene High School in Mosheim. Like the Doak project, the effort involved a pre-test, followed up by work with the students on a mock budget, and teaching and discussion. The test was again administered, with student performance rising from an average of 50 percent on the pre-test to 98 percent on the followup test.

SIFE is a global, non-profit organization with student teams on more than 1,400 university campuses in 33 countries. It emphasizes development of leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise. Guided by distinguished faculty advisors and supported by businesses around the globe, SIFE teams teach important concepts through educational outreach projects, including market economics, entrepreneurship, personal and financial success, and business ethics.