Students can Improve Themselves by Helping Their Community

Texas A&M International University's Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization where students research the needs of the community and build up projects to fulfill the needs. The whole organization is divided into groups, and each group works on a different project.  They take the whole academic year in order for the projects to be accomplished. At the end of the year, Sifers (as they call themselves) participate in regional and national competition, in which they present results of the projects and are judged by business leaders.

Students should not overlook  SIFE because not only they will be helping their community, but it is also "a great opportunity for networking," mentioned Marlinn Chong, president of SIFE TAMIU," it builds up leadership skills, and we get [many] jobs and internships offerings." In this organization, students can apply the concepts they have been learning in their courses to real life projects. This way, students would be a step ahead once they graduate, and they will be better prepared for the tough job market.  Students can choose the project that fits their area of study and in that manner they will acquire experiences for their future jobs.

One of the projects that would fit all majors is I-Trans-Green, which SIFE worked on last year and will continue to work this academic year.  For this particular project, they go to small business and help them go environmental green to reduce their electricity bills. Last year, they went to El Mercado Meat Market   and Charlie Coronas. They "changed the censors, the light bulbs, the recycling methods, the paint, the windows, everything to make it more efficient," said Marlinn Chong, "we also taught the employees how to properly recycle, so at the end of the project, we measured up the results, and we saw that Charlie Coronas went from a bill of $3,700 to  $1,800." With this kind of project, not only the students help their community, but they gained the knowledge of how to reduce bills for their future businesses.

For students that are interested in joining, SIFE members can be contacted through e-mail, sifetamiu@gmail.com, through Facebook as Sife Tamiu, or they can walk-in at the weekly meetings which are held at Western Hemispheric Center 125 on Mondays at 7:30pm or Fridays at 1:00pm. SIFE is one of a kind organization that students must take advantage of because it helps the community and the student's future.

(Ana K. Gamboa and Arlene L. Faz may be contacted at kristelita_g@dusty.tamiu.edu; arlene_faz@dusty.tamiu.edu)