UNK SIFE president, 308.529.2173 OR brockcl@unk.edu
The University of Nebraska at Kearney Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team, in cooperation with Midland Lutheran College, recently hosted an all day competition on the UNK campus to teach area high school students about entrepreneurship.
Students came from 12 area high schools, including Amherst, Blue Hill, Callaway, Centura, Cozad, Hastings St. Cecilia, Litchfield, Overton, Pleasanton, Ravenna, Sandhills and Schickley.
Keynote speaker Judith Larsen, founder of the Village Pie Maker, kicked off the event with advice pertaining to the creation and growth of a successful business venture.
Participating students worked together on business teams, which were charged with the completion of a variety of tasks, including brainstorming a business concept and mission statement, creating a business card and slogan, submitting a loan request to a panel of area bankers, negotiating with area realtors to select a location for their new venture, and creating a commercial for their new company.
The student teams were also asked to consider an ethical dilemma faced by entrepreneurs, and finished the day by presenting their overall business plan to a panel of judges.
Teams were evaluated on each aspect of the day’s activities, and the top teams were recognized at the concluding award ceremony. Members of the “grand champion” team included Ethan Kenney, Amherst; Courtney Kohmetscher, Blue Hill; Anna Roth and Alec Monter, Centura; Tom Marshall, Overton; Celia Schinkel, Pleasanton; Blake Teichmeirer, Ravenna; and Kylee Schweitzer, Shickley.
The contest was one of many educational outreach activities offered by the UNK SIFE team each year.
Founded in 1975 and active on more than 1,500 college and university campuses in 37 countries, SIFE is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to provide college students the opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills
through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise.
