News Releases

USM SIFE Team Honored at Regional Competition

April 16, 2004

The University of Southern Maine Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team recently competed in the SIFE regional competition in Boston, on April 8, coming home not only as the Rookie of the Year team, but the Regional Champion, surpassing the efforts of teams from Boston University, Northeastern, Suffolk and Harvard. The USM student group has now advanced to the SIFE USA National Exposition to be held May 23-25, in Kansas City. The club's advisor John Voyer, professor of business administration, was also recently named a Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow for his commitment to USM's program.

Students In Free Enterprise is a nonprofit organization founded in 1975, that cultivates the partnership of business and higher education, to foster student communication and leadership skill development through the teaching of free enterprise principles. SIFE team members are encouraged to apply their classroom skills to educational outreach programs in their communities. The USM SIFE team recently worked with Maine Junior Achievement to teach King Middle School students about business elements such as marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, and finances.

For more information about SIFE at USM and the competition, please contact John Voyer at 780-4597 and Andrew Sparda at 332-1648.

The following USM students are members of the SIFE team. Students are listed according to their hometowns.

Augusta:
Catherine Foster, daughter of Colleen and David Foster and USM senior business major. She was recently hired as a cost financial analyst for Banknorth, after a six-month internship in their finance department. She is a 1998 graduate of Cony High School.

Rangeley:
Heather Quimby, daughter of Jim Quimby and Verna Rennick, a sophomore accounting and finance major. She graduated from Rangeley Lakes Regional High School in 2002.

Scarborough:
Andrew Sparda, is the son of Robert and Kathleen Sparda, and working towards his MBA at USM. He received his B.A. from Fordham University in New York City in 2000. He is the SIFE marketing director and media liason, and writes for both the Falmouth Forecaster and the USM Free Press.

Sheila Sheedy, a 1997 Scarborough High School graduate is a freshman at USM. She is the daughter of Kevin Sheedy and Shara Barris of Scarborough.

Newburyport, MA.:
Conor McCormick, son of Robert and Lilly McCormick, graduated form Sanford High School in 2001. He is a business and marketing major minoring in economics.

Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands:
Rhoan Garnett is a junior business and finance major. He graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School in 1997.

Klaipeda, Lithuania:
Estera LeConte, daughter of Janina Cipariene and Antanas Ciparis, graduated from high school in 1999. She is an accounting and finance major, and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Accounting and Finance Society.

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