Fredonia SIFE team wins trophy

Students at Fredonia State College earned the second runner-up trophy in the opening round of competition at the Students In Free Enterprise National Exposition held May 6 to 8 in Dallas, Texas.

The ranking - the highest achieved by a Fredonia SIFE team in national competition in four years - places the local team in the top 18 nationwide within their division. It also means Fredonia placed in the top 7 percent, or top 60, among more than 800 colleges and universities of all sizes.

That performance, which capped a stellar year that saw Fredonia win its 10th regional title in a row, came as no surprise to Mojtaba Seyedian, chairman of Fredonia's business administration department.

"I was at their rehearsals, and I predicted that they would win the regional and definitely some national trophy," he said "They were by far the best team we've seen on campus."

One component of their project that particularly impressed Seyedian was the inclusion of statistical analyses of the subjects of their project.

"They did pre-testing and post-testing to prove that they had a good project, and indeed, made an impact on their audience," he added. SIFE projects promote the benefits of the enterprise system.

The senior-laden, all-women team set the bar high for future SIFE students at Fredonia, Seyedian said.

The team's eight members included Andrea Perlino of Williamsville, Abigail Losh of Cheektowaga and Susan Slagor of Depew.

"We are used to just winning regional titles. Now we are winning national titles," Seyedian said. "We are on our way to the top prize."