To everyone who is interested in becoming a part of Students In Free Enterprise:

I’d like to thank all of you who helped make our first SIFE meeting successful. This week, Thursday October 15th, 2009, we have another general meeting. If any of you missed the first meeting, we will be handing out information about this year’s project then, so feel free to stop any of us and ask for information.

The last project was a newly added project and we will be discussing it into further detail. We are also pitching two potential project ideas this week and if you would like to lead or present your own project ideas, it is mandatory that you be present at this Thursday meeting. Please come, we welcome all your ideas and we will be providing you with a lot of information.

Hope you all are excited for this year so please tell everyone you know and we hope to see you there THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15th. 8PM. HAWC.

This Thursday, October 1, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m. , HAWC second floor, we will be having our kick-off meeting! If you want to join SIFE (students in free enterprise) this is your chance! Come and see what SIFE is all about. Pizza will be provided so come hungry!!!

We welcome all majors!

Website: www.sife.org and http://pepsife.wordpress.com/

For more info contact: Evelin Caceres at Peppsife@gmail.com

On April 7th, Pepperdine SIFE emerged victorious from the SIFE regional competition at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel. Their competition included the University of Ariona, Cal Poly Pomona and Fresno Pacific University among others. The teams all presented their chapter’s annual projects to demonstrate the impact they have made in their respective communities.

Throughout this year Pepperdine SIFE has conducted more than 16 community-oriented projects, including financial planning seminars, business consulting and economic mission trips. With that, the club was able to make a positive impact on more than 4,200 people. Most notably widows and orphans in Rwanda, the homeless in Ventura and Santa Monica, and numerous individuals throughout Mexico.

Pepperdine SIFE will now be attending SIFE National Exposition in Chicago, May 12-May 15.

To get involved with SIFE, email stacey.gallarde@pepperdine.edu. 

Pepperdine University’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will host a panel discussion on the topic of academic freedom on April 15^th at 8:00PM in Elkins auditorium.  Pepperdine professors and select outside sources will share research and perspective on the controversy of Intelligent Design (ID) in the classroom.  In response to multiple clips from Ben Stein’s new film, EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, the panelists will clarify issues and confusion surrounding the implications of Intelligent Design.

Stein’s film features numerous examples of university professors being denied tenure and publishing rights for finding truth in ID.  Due to the censorship and seemingly unfair treatment of many respectable scientists, the panel discussion aims to detail the intricate facets of ID while considering strengths and potential weaknesses of the theory in both a scientific and theological setting.

Professors Chris Doran, Donna Nofziger-Plank and Todd Bouldin of Pepperdine will share their research and perspectives on the topic in response to clips from Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.  Dr. Thomas D. English, president of TESSI Endangered species institute and professor at Palomar College, will also accompany the two Pepperdine professors in an effort to bring awareness to the issues surrounding academic freedom.

To learn more about the film, please visit: www.GetEXPELLED.com

Director of Event Planning
Director of Technology
Director of Marketing
Public Relations Officer
Graphic Design Officer
Director of Finance
Fundraising Officer
Budgeting Officer
Director of Human Resources
Meeting Coordinator
Recruitment Officer

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MALIBU – This spring SIFE will continue to help the community by using their business skills. Recently, SIFE has teamed up with PATH Los Angeles to help educate the homeless on financial literacy.

PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) is a full-service homeless agency, providing transitional housing and employment assistance.  Each week, SIFE will send a group of students to PATH to hold financial literacy seminars for participants in the PATHFinders program. The seminars will cover everything from budgeting to setting up a bank account.

SIFE’s seminars will work to fill an unfortunate gap in the Los Angeles area, as many homeless programs are only focused on job preparation. Creating a basis of financial literacy within the PATHFinder participants will likely lead to a brighter, and more stable future.

To get involved with this project contact stacey.gallarde@pepperdine.edu.

MALIBU—On November 3^rd, Pepperdine SIFE held four seminars on fundraising and financial planning at a FIRST Robotics event at California State University, Northridge.  This marks SIFE’s third consecutive year helping high school teams involved with FIRST.

FIRST Robotics is an organization aimed at inspiring high school students to become leaders in the science and technology world.  Each year, teams design and build robots during using a common set of parts and with certain tasks in mind. As team budgets rely on fundraising and obtaining sponsorships, Pepperdine SIFE finds this the perfect opportunity to contribute their knowledge regarding financial planning and management.

During SIFE’s hour-long seminars they taught the teams money saving tips, as well as provided them with tools to track their expenses.  SIFE member and Director of Human Resources, Gabriel Johnson notes, “They already do a great job fundraising, but they don’t know how to manage the money that comes in. That’s where SIFE steps in.”  SIFE’s presence at FIRST Robotics events is greatly appreciated as many team advisors make it a priority to attend their seminars.  

The local economy of La Quemada has failed to provide jobs for many of its adult males.  In order for these males to provide for their families, they have come to the United States to work and send their earnings back home.  Pepperdine students Gabriel Johnson, Erica Edgerson, Andrew Smith, Lauren Hartley, Elizabeth Froeberg, and Jackie Belue will be working with Virginia Thomas–who recently completed her undergraduate work at Pepperdine–and others from the Texas-based global outreach organization Business Without Borders to help bring jobs to the community with this new water store.

The trip will also be an educational journey for the students as they learn how they can incorporate their Christian faith and entrepreneurial spirit under a new ministry model called Business as Mission (BAM).  It is the goal of Business Without Borders that the profits from the water store be used to fund Christian ministry in the community.  Throughout the 10-day journey, the students will be participating in daily training sessions provided by Business Without Borders where they will learn more about BAM.  It is the hope of the participating students to bring the vision of BAM back to the Pepperdine campus to educate more students about this exciting new form of ministry.

During this academic year, the Pepperdine SIFE team organized 10 educational outreach projects effecting 500 community members and contributed over 1,100 hours.

Division Chair and Sam Walton Fellow (SIFE’s term for team advisor) L. Keith Whitney noted, “I am particularly proud of this our SIFE Team. SIFE President Gabriel Johnson, a junior business major from San Diego, California, provided extraordinary leadership throughout the year. Judges spent most of the question and answer period expressing praise for the Team. The SIFE Team emphasized servant leadership, something they also embodied. I wish the entire Pepperdine family could have witnessed their presentations. The young women and men represented all of us very well indeed!”

Pepperdine University’s SIFE Team is actually comprised of more than just the presentation team. The SIFE Team members who competed at the L.A. Regional Competition were Gabriel Johnson, Erica Edgerson, Joshua Fadley, Man on Li, Linnco Ho, and Sarah Scherff.