Loyola Univ. business students volunteer to teach valuable work

New Orleans CityBusiness, Mar 28, 2005 by Tommy Santora

Making sock puppets and playing musical chairs is not just fun and games any more. Now they're educational tools collegians use to teach business concepts to elementary students.

Musical chairs teaches them about supply and demand. We take away chairs to teach them about shortages and we put more chairs in to demonstrate an oversupply, said Conrad DeBaillon, a Loyola University sophomore and a member of the school's Students in Free Enterprise team. Most of the kids run around crazy and just play the games but some get it. We try to make the activity relate to them.

SIFE, headquartered in Springfield, Mo., is a global, nonprofit organization with more than 1,800 college teams in 400 different countries, including 900 U.S. teams. As a community service, college students provide the non-working poor and elderly with a foundation in basic business skills they can parlay into a job. They also prepare elementary and high school students for the business world by teaching economic principles and values.

We give the teams the framework like entrepreneurship and developing financial skills, and the students find the needs in their communities and develop projects to help those in need, said Eric Burgains, SIFE program director for the mid-south region. Most students come up with their own projects and present them in an easy- to-understand format and design educational outreach projects that help individuals in need.

Loyola's SIFE team created all their projects - ranging from the musical chairs, sock puppets and alien trading for elementary school students - to resume, cover letter writing and computer skills for adults and Internet surfing for the elderly.

We call up shelters, centers and schools and tell them what we can come there and do to help their people out, said Mary Ensor, Loyola SIFE president. We get that feedback and go to each place about twice a month.

By designing and producing sock puppets, Ensor said, young students begin to understand raw materials, the production process and finished goods. SIFE members cut hair, glue on eyes, noses and accessories, while students go from station to station assembling their product.

For adults, the Loyola SIFE team holds workshops at centers such as the House of Ruth in Algiers to work one-on-one with individuals on resume and cover letter presentation before they go on job interviews.

The House of Ruth, a United Way agency founded in 1987 to assist the homeless or potentially homeless families who have experienced a sudden loss of income, restabilizes adults during a three-month intervention and employment education.

Yvette Warren, job developer and volunteer coordinator at the center, has worked with Loyola SIFE students twice a month since January. She says many of their clients wish the students could come back every day.

Their goal of educating people about free enterprise and business topics and our goal of helping people become financially independent are compatible, Warren said. The students came to us with a list of things they could offer us, and everything we do is to foster their economic capability.

The center computer lab is open to adults during the week to send and check e-mails, develop resumes and write cover letters. Loyola students teach Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point Publisher programs and show them effective ways to start their own businesses by learning licensing procedures.

Warren said the center serves about 400 people a year.

Dr. Louis C. Mancuso, the Conrad Hilton endowed chair for entrepreneurship at Xavier University, reinstated the SIFE team when he was hired in August 2004. The team had been inactive due to lack of interest on campus but Mancuso made it a priority to relaunch the SIFE program.

I've always taught this rule to my students: 'Tell me and I will forget; show me and I might remember; involve me and I will learn,' Mancuso said. I believe in SIFE. Teachers can lecture all they want about business topics, but until you get students out there and they can see the difference they're making, then that's when they understand.

Mancuso said the 25-member Xavier team concentrates on the entrepreneurial skills by meeting with neophyte businesses and helping them launch products in the free market.

We worked with four cases last semester, Mancuso said. We interview the client, do market research for them and tailor their product to target a specific client base.

The Xavier SIFE team helped former Xavier student Greg Johnson launch his company Herewego Entertainment, an event planning business. Johnson has organized 11 events since opening the business in fall 2004.

They told me what kind of market to target like sporting events, concerts and weddings, and the proper procedures I had to follow to license my company with the state, Johnson said. They developed all the market research I would need and then some.

Teams showcase their community projects at annual SIFE competitions where they present oral, audio-visual and written summaries to national business leaders.