San Marcos Record, San Marcos, TX

October 25, 2008

SIFE students help create Crockett depot


San Marcos — Texas State University student and member of the Texas State Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team, Emily Sheppard, has been teaching Crockett Elementary students from the fourth grade “GT” class at Crockett Elementary School about the principles of entrepreneurship and how to open your own business.

The project entitled “Free Enterprise Club and Depot” taught the students about principles and concepts of free enterprise and economics.

These principles included: personal responsibility, reward for work, math concepts, specialization of labor, profit, products and services, spending and saving and the sales process.

The Free Enterprise Club teaches how entrepreneurs succeed by identifying a market need and then profitably producing and marketing a product or service to fill that need.

Every Friday the fourth grade children help the SIFE team host a school store for all students at Crockett Elementary. The goal of the store is to help put the free enterprise concepts taught in class into a hands-on project for the students.

The fourth grade class collaborated and decided to bring Boko the bobcat, from Texas State University, in hopes of increasing participation at the depot.

The students voted to send a portion of the proceeds to the American Red Cross.

SIFE is a global, non-profit organization that is literally changing the world through student teams on more than 1,600 university campuses in 40 countries.

SIFE offers students the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills.