The Lorain County Community College Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team travelled to Philadelphia in mid May for the SIFE USA National Exposition and returned to Elyria as a second runner up in the two-year college division.

This means the team took third place out of 19 two-year schools participating in the national competition. Team members Margaret Box, Cedric Brown, Jason Case, Lauren Mole, Laura Nash and Nathaniel Sias presented a report on SIFE’s year-long outreach activities to a panel of judges made up of business leaders from companies throughout the country.

The SIFE team’s national third place finish followed its designation as Regional Champions after participating in the Cleveland SIFE USA Regional Competition in March.

“These were extremely intense competitions. I am so proud of our team and their accomplishments. It is an honor to receive these awards and to work with these dedicated students,” said LCCC professor and SIFE advisor Maria McConnell.

SIFE member, Jason Case said, “This was an excellent experience as a first time presenter.  The team did a fantastic job at the regional competition and we are excited about our success at the national level.”

SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on college campuses in more than 40 countries.  SIFE teams apply business concepts to create community outreach projects focusing on market economics, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, personal success skills, environmental sustainability and business ethics. Through these projects, students work to improve the quality of life and standard of living for their communities and others.

During this academic year, the LCCC SIFE team delivered 26 projects.  For more information on the LCCC SIFE Team, call McConnell at 440-366-7404. For more information on the SIFE organization, visit www.sife.org.