RUSSELLVILLE — Lindsey Falkenstein of Pea Ridge was one of several students on the Arkansas Tech University regional championship team in Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition, which Tech won for the fifth time since 2003.

The Arkansas Tech SIFE team was named a 2011 regional champion at the SIFE USA Regional Competition in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, March 18.

SIFE is an international non-profit organization that engages students on 1,500college campuses around the world in projects that, according to the organization, “create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business.”

This year marks the third time in the last four years that Arkansas Tech has earned a SIFE regional title.

Arkansas Tech’s SIFE team won the championship based on a presentation concerning its public service projects throughout the current academic year.

“SIFE members at Arkansas Tech University care about their campus and the Russellville community,” said Dr. Linda Bean, associate professor of management and marketing at Arkansas Tech and Sam M. Walton Fellow for the Arkansas Tech SIFE team.

“This caring has been demonstrated in the projects they have completed this year.”

The Arkansas Tech SIFE team participated in nine community service projects during the 2010-11 academic year.

One of the most successful programs the group initiated this year was “Let’s Can Hunger.” The project consisted of 11 food drives that collected more than 7,500 pounds of food for Main Street Mission in Russellville.

As a regional champion, Arkansas Tech will advance to the 2011 SIFE USA National Exposition in Minneapolis, Minn., May 10-12.

One national champion at that event will advance to the SIFE World Cup in Malaysia Oct. 3-5.

School, Pages 8 on 04/06/2011