SMITHFIELD – Bryant University’s Students in Free Enterprise community outreach team will advance to the national contest for the sixth time in seven years, after again placing as a champion in the SIFE USA Regional Competition.

The team was awarded $1,500 for winning the regional contest, and another $1,000 for placing as a finalist in the GE Consumer Products Program Sustainability Competition.

“This achievement represents the validation of all the projects Bryant SIFE has completed this year,” Matthew Veves, a Bryant sophomore from Hudson, N.H., and a presenter with the school’s SIFE team, said in a statement today. The team also included executive board members Julie Wentzell, president; Daniel Caulfield, vice president; Brittany Aiesi, project coordinator; Stephen Balkam, treasurer; Amanda Dunne, PR coordinator; Robert Taylor, presentation coordinator; and Kathryn Rzasa, secretary.

SIFE teams complete projects focusing on market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial skills or business ethics, then prepare a written report. At the competition, each student team has 24 minutes to give its audio-visual presentation before a panel of business leaders, then 5 minutes to field questions from the panelists.

The Bryant team – with Sam Walton Fellow and faculty adviser David Greenan – organized 19 projects this academic year, including a Technology for the Elderly program that helped local residents learn how to use digital cameras, shop on eBay and stay in touch with their families via e-mail.

“It’s a different kind of competition from anything else I’ve been a part of,” Veves said. “It’s not solely about winning; it’s about seeing all the good that each SIFE chapter has done for the community.”

The regional contest, sponsored by CVS/pharmacy, was held April 1 at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings in Warwick. Bryant tied with the University of Southern Maine, in Portland, for the League 2 championship, while the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth took first runner-up and Lehigh Valley College of Center Valley, Pa., was second runner-up. Salve Regina University of Newport was second runner-up in League 1, placing behind Boston College and Maine Maritime Academy, the league champ, but ahead of Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Champions from the regional contests will advance to the 2008 SIFE USA National Exposition, to be held in Chicago May 13 to 15. National winners will go on to vie for the SIFE World Cup.

Students in Free Enterprise is an international nonprofit organization that works with businesses and educational institutions to encourage students to use their classroom knowledge to address real-world issues. Their outreach projects are showcased at annual competitions in which regional winners advance to the national contest and national winners vie for the SIFE World Cup. To learn more, visit www.sife.org.