The Indiana University East Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won a regional championship in its league during the SIFE United States Regional Competition Exposition held April 10 in Cincinnati.

IU East students on the team are James Healton and Shawna Sparks, both of Centerville, Ind., Ryan Doughty of Richmond, Nick Miller of Winchester, Brittany Hostetler of Camden, Ohio, and Rick McKinney and Megan Winn, both of Eaton, Ohio.

The SIFE team will move on to the national competition in Kansas City, Mo., May 23-24.

The team has been working throughout the year on various projects related to teaching financial literacy concepts and entrepreneurship. SIFE members also featured the recent “Who Are YOUtube” contest videos they filmed with businesses in the Richmond Depot District and Center City Development Corporation. Other projects included “Stage 2” in which families received baby food and then made a product from the jars to sell; a math entrepreneurship curriculum book, “ME,” for students in K-12; and a birdhouse project that teaches participants to take natural resources to develop a product.

“Our team worked diligently to create our presentation and should be proud of this accomplishment. You could feel the passion we have for our work as we presented,” Healton said.

Tim Scales, lecturer of business and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, is the team’s advisor.

“The projects which are presented at the SIFE competitions evolve from many hours of planning, executing and evaluating projects,” Scales said. “Each project has an impact on our school, our community and the educational experience of the team.  This year the Indiana University East SIFE team presented the impact of ten projects, over 2,000 SIFE team hours. We are pleased to move on to the National Competition and to be recognized in the top ten percent of the universities in the country.”

IU East competed in League Five which included co-championship team Malone University from Canton, Ohio; first-runner up Anderson University; and Rookie of the Year Indiana University South Bend. There were 400 teams participating in the SIFE USA Regional Competition.

SIFE is a nonprofit organization that gives students the tools to learn the free enterprise system in a real working situation. SIFE challenges students on more than 1,600 college campuses nationwide to take what they’re learning in the classroom and use their knowledge to better their communities.