SIFE Nationals 2011

Metro Toronto Convention Center- May 2011

Imagine, an entire theatre of 1,300 seats full of enthusiastic SIFE students from across the country. What a thrill. Forty-five SIFE teams from Universities and Colleges Canada-wide eagerly await the opportunity to make it up on stage to be recognized – the same stage as Canadian Idol talent. Slideshows of community work, smiling faces and inspirational statistics flash on screen while the music pumps and thousands of students energetically clap, shout and throw their hands in the air. This is the SIFE nationals- the event of the year for SIFE students across Canada.

SIFE BCIT

All year long students at SIFE BCIT have been dedicating their spare time to work on community projects that make a difference. Ranging from small business consultation, to a reservist re-entry program to hunger awareness, SIFE BCIT has been working hard to create measurable community impact.

 

 

Nationals made the objective of SIFE clear. Each team’s purpose is to address economic, social and environmental issues faced by their community and find ways to combat them. Teams do this by creating projects that will have an impact on a target audience in the community. The goal is to improve the standard of living and quality of life, create jobs, and generate revenue that can be invested back into our economy.

BCIT- Deemed the competition to beat

Having won SIFE Regional’s in Calgary, SIFE BCIT qualified not only for the overall SIFE challenge, but also for the Financial Education challenge. The preliminary challenges were hosted in rooms that seated about 50 spectators and 10 judges. The judges who were executives from major Canadian companies were seated in the front row with annual reports and extensive criteria forms. Rooms were open to anyone and to our surprise during the SIFE BCIT presentations there was not one empty seat in the house. Word in Toronto was that SIFE BCIT was a team to beat. Students from other schools sat in and took notes because for a school of our size, we had a reputation for making a big impact and creating an all-star presentation.

How the Competition works

On day one at the Nationals SIFE BCIT made presentations for both the financial and overall SIFE challenges. When the results were tallied it was announced that BCIT qualified for the semi-final round for the overall SIFE challenge. This of course meant going back to the drawing board for our four presenters. Based on all of our viewings of other presentations we knew what teams we were up against and also, what kinds of questions the judges would be asking.

There is no doubt our team nailed the presentation during the semi-final round. The speeches moved flawlessly and the question and answer was strategic, personal and to the point. That moment was one of pure BCIT pride. Speaking of pride, BCIT stuck together with it fellow West Coast schools. Nothing but support was offered to SFU and Kwantlen College.

Unfortunately in a competition of this stature it is hard to compete with the Universities that have regular course loads, four year programs, and plenty of start-up capital. Although unselected for the final round, SIFE BCIT gave other schools a run for their money and it was a feat to have made it that far!

The Results

The winner of this year’s SIFE National challenge was Memorial University and runner up position going to Ryerson. Both of these schools had impressive projects that created astounding results in their communities. Memorial will be flying their team to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to represent Canada at the SIFE World Cup. SIFE Windsor won over the hearts of the audience with their unforgettable presentation about the hardships of Windsor throughout the recession and their perseverance to rise above.

The SIFE challenge in Toronto gave students the opportunity to view the kinds of projects that other schools from across the country have been working on. There is nothing more inspirational than watching young people, with so much drive, go up on stage and showcase the positive changes that they are making in their communities. The whole competition provided the right amount of motivation to empower SIFE BCIT to work harder, create more projects, recruit more students and return to Nationals in Calgary next year for a chance to bring a win back to the West Coast.

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