10/5/2009 3:43:00 PM A Conversation With ... Josh Jones
Title: Director of Students in Free Enterprise Company: Drury University Education: Bachelor's degree in business with an emphasis in marketing, Drury University Top Two: In May, Drury's SIFE team finished second in the nation at the SIFE USA National Competition in Philadelphia, behind Florida-based Flagler College. Contact: joshjones@drury.edu
Tell us about Drury's SIFE team and SIFE's purpose.
It's all extracurricular. We currently have 40 students, a few MBA students, and the rest are undergraduates. We have one faculty adviser, John Taylor, who has been faculty adviser since fall 2003. The mission of SIFE is to create economic opportunity. We do so by focusing on projects that meet six specific areas ... and we're ultimately judged on them at competition. SIFE is the premier network for giving college students a real-world learning opportunity, taking the theory that they're learning in the classroom and applying it into project-based opportunities.
What are those six criteria for SIFE projects?
One is teaching others to understand how capital markets work. ... The second is success skills (such as) interview skills, developing a résumé, etiquette that would be helpful going in and obtaining a job. Third is entrepreneurship ... helping a budding entrepreneur develop that business plan ... or understand how to go about obtaining financing. We also teach basic financial literacy. ... A focus on environmental sustainability was added last summer. We are asked to develop projects that focus on developing an understanding that ethical business practices are vital to ensuring the long-term success of a market economy. We are also judged on team sustainability.
What are some current or recent Drury SIFE projects?
We have a project that we started last year, where we spent three days down at Sequoia High School in Tahlequah, Okla., and we worked with more than 150 students, covering 14 financial literacy projects from credit scores to personal financial decision-making. The project culminated in a hands-on stock market simulation. We're planning on bringing that program to schools in Springfield and the broader region.
One that I'm really excited about (began) two and a half years ago when Community Partnership of the Ozarks approached our team to help them develop a rough business plan for a new project ... and our students helped them to develop ideas for what became www.cafeprevention.com. Through this online storefront, Community Partnership sells materials such as brochures, postcards and board games to other prevention organizations around the country. They're turning a profit and seeing positive impact. They've approached us to develop a plan for their second phase of growth.
Is SIFE participation limited to students in the business degree program?
No. We place an importance on recruiting for members outside of the business school. It's something that separates our team from others, and it gives us the opportunity to really get the best leaders.
About two-thirds of our students are from the business school ... pursuing their business degrees. The remaining third are coming from humanities, science, chemistry, biology and psychology.
What key lessons do SIFE members learn?
Just realizing that you have to be very proactive about getting things done. One of the best examples is that we have a project, Choice and Chance Finance.
We developed a financial literacy board game ... that high school students play to understand financial decision-making. We realized once we had the product (we needed) to get it into the classrooms. We started calling teachers locally and around the U.S., and there's just a persistence that you can't teach in the classroom, necessarily. Last year, we got the board game into 36 states, and we're reordering another 500 right now. Last year we purchased 250. Another thing is the team dynamic, figuring out how to set goals the group can agree to and figuring out how to manage the accountability aspect.
How does SIFE help students get ready for the job market?
SIFE is a great opportunity for our students to network. There have been a lot of good jobs that have come out of it.
At the competition, there's a great, really focused job fair, when SIFE donor companies from Clorox to Campbell's Soup to Unilever are there (recruiting) for jobs and internships.
