Media

• Day 2+3: The Excitement of SIFE World Cup

  First off, so sorry we couldn’t put up an article for Day 2

  The competition officially kicked off on Sunday, October 10.

  Here’s what happened on Day 2:

  1) Cultural Fair: The cultural fair was one of the most colourful experiences in my life. There were SIFE members from Puerto Rico to Nigeria to United Kingdom to India. What made the whole experience special was that we instantly went from competitors to accepting each other as a SIFE family. Thirty nine countries became one big family with smiles, laughter and jokes.

  2) Opening Ceremony. We all got pumped with the cultural fair but the opening ceremony left us completely speechless! There were more than 2000 people all in one room cheering as loud as we could and dancing like we’ve never danced before. Flags waving with K’naan playing in the background made us feel like we were on “Cloud 9″. In that moment, we felt close, not as SIFE Ryerson, not as SIFE Canada, but as SIFE as a family.

  Announced at the opening ceremony were the presentation time for SIFE Canada. With the success of Memorial University being placed in the top 4 in the  2009 SIFE World Cup, SIFE Canada and the other 3 teams were fortunate to choose leagues in advance of the rest of the teams.

  We were in League 8. Our competitors were Australia, Kenya, Sweden, Tunisia and Canada. Once leagues were announced, we went off to practice some more with the team, hug them and tell them how AWESOME they are!

  *sigh* This was just the opening day of the SIFE World Cup!

  Here’s how Day 3 in Anaheim, the second day of the competition unraveled:

  1) Watching the success of other SIFE teams. We knew that we presenting at the last spot of the day. We began sitting in presentations from countries from around the world. The cool takeaway for me was that we are all doing similar programs to strive for one goal. Whether that goal is education, creating awareness, motivation, etc.

  2) Then, it was our turn. Team Canada presented in  front of a packed room that left the judges overwhelmed. There was a lot of support from Canada as well as other teams we like and trust. The question and answer is a difficult component of the competition. Team Canada was able to beautifully carve answers that not only satisfied judges but also went beyond the question.

  3) Time for the results for Semis. We were nervous and excited. A wise man once said, “Always believe that you can win but as soon as you think you won, you lost.” With a few shocking upsets, we anxiously waited for the results. Woohooo!! We advanced to the Semis! Here is the order for the presentation: Canada, Japan, USA and France.

  Final Day of Competition

  Today is the final day of competition. We are excited to present. Out of 1500 teams, Team Canada is in the top 16; no matter we win or lose, we are proud of our success.

  Wish us luck!

  PS: Watch the live stream at http://sife.org/worldcup/live

  PPS: Here are links to articles for Day 0, Day 1.

  Article by Nehal Kazim

• RYERSON UNIVERSITY CROWNED NATIONAL CHAMPION BY TOP CANADIAN CEOs

  

  Ryerson Universit y has been named the 2010 Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) National Champion by national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and a 50 person judging panel comprised of top Canadian CEOs.

  The 2010 national competition took place between May 10 and 12 in Calgary and involved three grueling rounds of competition, 43 university and college teams and 600 students, from every province of Canada.

  The team from Ryerson University stood victorious because they have dedicated thousands of volunteer hours over the past school year to help build a better Canada, starting in their own community. With a team of over 120 students, SIFE Ryerson operated 47 community outreach projects, positively impacted 4,500 people and created 3.3 million in economic opportunity.

  The SIFE program, operated by ACE, provides university and college students access to real world experience, through the implementation of economic outreach projects that complement in-class studies. Students involved in ACE make a meaningful contribution to their communities today, and discover their potential to achieve an even greater impact as the leaders of tomorrow.

  “The Ryerson team represents the types of leaders this country needs, as they work together today to fuel the Canadian economy through outreach projects impacting aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners, explains Amy Harder , ACE President. “This dedication to entrepreneurship is definitely why they are our 2010 National Champions.”

  Close to 1,000 delegates including the country’s brightest university and college students, academic professionals and top Canadian CEOs took part in this annual gathering that effectively engages generations of leaders around the shared cause of building a better Canada. The National Champion team from Ryerson will now move on to the international level of competition – the SIFE World Cup – taking place in Los Angeles, California this October 10 to 12, 2010. There student teams from over 40 countries will compete for the ultimate title of World Cup Champion.

  This post secondary team will now represent Canada at the SIFE World Cup in LA this fall

  Calgary, AB (Thursday May 13, 2010) – Ryerson University has been named the 2010 Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) National Champion by national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and a 50 person judging panel comprised of top Canadian CEOs.

  The 2010 national competition took place between May 10 and 12 in Calgary and involved three grueling rounds of competition, 43 university and college teams and 600 students, from every province of Canada.

  The team from Ryerson University stood victorious because they have dedicated thousands of volunteer hours over the past school year to help build a better Canada, starting in their own community. With a team of over 120 students, SIFE Ryerson operated 47 community outreach projects, positively impacted 4,500 people and created 3.3 million in economic opportunity.

  The SIFE program, operated by ACE, provides university and college students access to real world experience, through the implementation of economic outreach projects that complement in-class studies. Students involved in ACE make a meaningful contribution to their communities today, and discover their potential to achieve an even greater impact as the leaders of tomorrow.

  “The Ryerson team represents the types of leaders this country needs, as they work together today to fuel the Canadian economy through outreach projects impacting aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners, explains Amy Harder    , ACE President. “This dedication to entrepreneurship is definitely why they are our 2010 National Champions.”

  Close to 1,000 delegates including the country’s brightest university and college students, academic professionals and top Canadian CEOs took part in this annual gathering that effectively engages generations of leaders around the shared cause of building a better Canada. The National Champion team from Ryerson will now move on to the international level of competition – the SIFE World Cup – taking place in Los Angeles, California this October 10 to 12, 2010. There student teams from over 40 countries will compete for the ultimate title of World Cup Champion.

  http://www.acecanada.ca/news/newsItem.cfm?cms_news_id=417

• We are proud to announce the launch of the Ryerson Digital Media Zone

  
  

  
  

  Hossein Rahnama, a postdoctoral researcher at Ryerson University and a member of the Steering Committee of Ryerson's new Digital Media Zone, in the digital think tank overlooking Dundas Square. His latest project, The Public Transit Travel Assistant, is a mobile application designed to help passengers with disabilities navigate transit systems.

  As Seen in the Toronto Star
  By: Louise Brown; Education Reporter
  Go ahead — nod off on your train ride home. Your smart phone will sound the alarm as you pull into your station so you don’t sleep to the end of the line … again.
  Or so a new mobile application being developed at Ryerson University promises to do, once it gets road-tested on a Go Train line later this spring.
  It’s one of dozens of inventions being cooked up at Ryerson’s new digital think-tank lab, an airy loft overlooking Dundas Square where budding inventors brainstorm with marketing minds to help their cyber-ideas take flight.
  One grad student is designing interactive software that lets you “stir” the cocktail in a liquor ad with the wave of a hand.
  Hossein Rahnama, a postdoctoral researcher at Ryerson University and a member of the Steering Committee of Ryerson’s new Digital Media Zone, in the digital think tank overlooking Dundas Square. His latest project, The Public Transit Travel Assistant, is a mobile application designed to help passengers with disabilities navigate transit systems.
  Two business majors have dreamed up a way to send your cellphone photo to a special website the moment you click the shutter, and have it emailed straight to the friend of your choice, complete with map of where it was shot.
  “This Digital Media Zone lets you bounce ideas off other people with very different skills — some business, some tech — and then pitch them to industry people who come each week to see what we’re doing,” said Ryerson business grad Dave Senior, who designed the photo-sharing application with student Josh Davey.
  The fully wired lounge is open 24/7 to students whose pitches win the nod of a student-led committee. One of the mentors is PhD student Hossein Rahnama. He designed the wake-up transit software, which also includes an “app” that would let a blind passenger send for help to transit officials, who could send a voice message back, explained Rahnama.
  “It’s like the emergency help button you see on the subway platform, only on your phone.”
  When Ryerson president Sheldon Levy heard last year that Rahnama was pitching his idea to the Paris Metro, he became convinced of the need for a cyber think-tank on campus.
  “I said to myself: Why Paris? Why not here? This is crazy that such talent has to go outside the country — we need somewhere where students with phenomenal ideas can bump into each other and have their ideas develop here,” Levy said. He connected Rahnama and Metrolinx, which oversees the Go Transit network, and a partnership developed.
  Master’s degree student Jonathan Ingham asked Levy last year for somewhere to work on his interactive ads, which require room for large projections, a rack of overhead infrared lights, and laptops.
  His request helped prompt Levy to set up the digital media zone where Ingham has developed his idea.
  He has since connected with firms such as L’Oreal, which hired him in January to design an interactive fashion runway in New York.
  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/791912–ryerson-s-digital-think-tank-sparks-inventions

• Coming home with 3 awards from ACE Regional Competition

  The bright ideas of Ted Rogers School of Management students have earned them top awards at a recent competition.

  Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Ryerson were big winners at the 2010 Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) Central Canada Regional Exposition, winning two of three challenges and finishing second in the other. The ACE event is an annual contest for students to develop economic and learning opportunities for target audiences in their community.

  SIFE Ryerson went up against 17 university teams from central Ontario to become regional champions in both the HSBC SIFE Financial Education and SIFE Green – Environmental Sustainability contests. The team was the runner-up in the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship challenge.

  “It feels great to win. This is the first time SIFE Ryerson participated in three challenges at the regional competitions. Our achievements are a reflection of everything we’ve worked for, on programs that are making a real difference in the community. I’m extremely proud of the team,” said Rohan Sharma, SIFE Ryerson president.

  SIFE Ryerson won the inaugural  sustainability challenge for three ideas the team developed: RU Green Challenge, a six-week environmental initiative encouraging individuals to make more environmentally sustainable decisions; Customized Informatics Solutions, a project that helps existing businesses implement environmentally responsible strategies; and the BlackBerry Green App Challenge, an international contest for BlackBerry users to create a concept for an application that solves a common environmental or sustainability issue within a company.

  SIFE Ryerson won the HSBC SIFE Financial Education championship title for Start Smart, a program that gives secondary school students the necessary tools to save money for their future. Members of SIFE Ryerson teach students about the importance and value of financial planning.

  The SIFE Ryerson team will travel to Calgary in May for the 2010 ACE National Exposition to defend their national championship in financial education. They will also compete against more than 50 teams from across the country for a chance to represent Canada in the 2010 SIFE World Cup in Los Angeles in October. The teams have to develop a 24-minute live presentation, complete with annual report, to convey their overall community impact to panels of business representatives.

• Students teach each other the value of a dollar
  
  

  Every dollar counts.

  Lessons like that – which might have helped this credit-dependent generation had they learned them early – are being taught to a lucky few in high schools by an enterprising group of Ryerson University business and marketing students.

  $tart $mart, a program created and implemented by the university students volunteering with a charity, gives practical financial lessons to mostly at-risk students at high schools.

  Last month, their program won them an annual challenge through Students in Free Enterprise, a charitable organization engaging teams of post-secondary students to use their own financial literacy education to give back to their communities.

  $tart $mart is a series of interactive, financial planning seminars and a training manual, aimed at youth with limited financial literacy skills, that teaches effective budget management, short- and long-term financial planning, the importance of saving and income tax regulations.

  “We see it really does work,” says Andrea Belvedere. “They’re learning things that are actually relevant to their lives.”

  Follow-ups show students change spending habits, develop better credit and debt management, and start investing for their future.

  “It’s not necessarily a bad thing to admit you don’t know that much about financial literacy and financial education,” Belvedere says. “We (don’t) teach in a way that makes them feel like they’ve missed things.”

  The 4-year-old program has grown quickly, reaching some 360 participants aged 16 to 25 in seven institutions last year, who committed to saving 25 per cent of discretionary income each month and, in total, saved about $3,500 in six months.

  They plan to expand the program to 50 Toronto high schools within five years and are working with the Ministry of Education to have their manual certified. At present, 12 Ryerson students belong to the program, but they also have contacts with field experts, who come in as guest speakers.

  The program is a valuable addition to the curriculum, says Sunil Singh, a teacher at Eastdale Collegiate Institute, whose Grade 11 workplace class participated. Because the Ryerson students are also young, “they share their own personal experiences in money management,” he says.

  His students did weekly budgets and compared them, finding motivation in each dollar saved, Singh says. Many of the students are living on their own, some are pregnant and some are already parents.

  “These kids especially need the skills that are being offered by Ryerson, more so than others, because they can’t afford to have quarters and dollars go here and there,” Singh says.

  Their experiences were also eye-opening for the Ryerson students, he notes.

  Danforth Tech teacher Ian Richards says his students were shocked to learn, among other things, that just one missed credit card payment gets recorded on their credit rating.

  “There were lots of open mouths, because most students … don’t understand how much it can damage you in the long term.”

  That carefree attitude about money, so common among young people, is what they are trying to counteract, says incoming program director Sara Farajian. “We realized that … especially high school, students don’t really take care of their expenses. They are not planning for the future. Saving money is crucial in their lives and that’s what we were able to make them realize.”

  That’s information everyone needs, some argue.

  Recently Toronto trustee Josh Matlow spoke out about the need to teach basic financial skills as early as Grade 4.

  Although Education Minister Kathleen Wynne says the secondary school curriculum has enough places where such issues can be taught, many disagree – particularly other teachers.

  “What we’ve heard from post-secondary institutions, is that, generally, students come to them very ill-prepared,” Richards says. “They haven’t had to take very much personal responsibility for their finances. I felt that this was something that they really should know.”

  Both Richards and Singh say they look forward to the program’s return next year.

  With this past year’s success, their ultimate goal is to get people to realize the importance of fiscal responsibility and pass on knowledge, Belvedere says.

  Online modules are being prepared that will be available to anyone on the Internet.

  Click Here for the Article