Projects 2008-2009

Idaho and Beyond--Watching ID and World Trade Day (Fall and Spring)--Market Economics (Criteria 1)

This has been completed for the last five years by the team and it is designed to teach elementary students about exporting, importing, and agriculture in our local state.  The first part of the project, Watching Idaho, is where college students visit local elementary classrooms.  Not only do these students learn about agricultural products that they eat everyday, but they also learn about what it means to export and import products.  The elementary students are then invited to visit our campus for hands-on activities at World Trade Day to learn more about Idaho’s agricultural products, applications of exporting and importing, and how to exchange these products between countries that may have different currencies.

This year SIFE plans to partner with the NNU education department for the Watching Idaho portion of the project. This allows education majors to gain extra experience with teaching elementary-aged students, and provides the SIFE team with the manpower to teach the students in the classroom about Idaho’s agriculture.

 The Watching Idaho portion will take place in the early part of the second semester, and the project will conclude with Idaho and Beyond in March.

Integrity in Tough Times: An Ethics Panel Discussion (October)--Business Ethics (Criteria 5)

Expanding from the on-campus, student/faculty ethics panel, NNU SIFE partnered with the Boise Chamber of Commerce to present and host an ethics discussion with local business leaders Gene Bleymaier, Athletic Director of BSU; Nora Carpenter, Council of Better Business Bureaus; Steve Hanks, former CEO of Washington Group; and George Harad, former CEO of Boise Cascade. Over 200 business professionals and students (80) attended the event, and even more were reached through TV broadcasts. PepperShock, an Idaho media production company, videoed the discussion, and SIFE plans to show this to other audiences.

This January, NNU SIFE will again bring back the ethics panel discussion to the campus and feature fellow students and professors on the panel. Ethical scenarios will be developed to reflect pressing ethical scenarios that are relevant to the students and college life. Last year SIFE received great response and avid involvement from the students, and NNU students are eager for this year’s ethics panel discussion.

The purpose of this two-fold project is to stir up discussion and awareness of ethics, encourage ethical behavior in the school and the community, as well as to promote social responsibility.

Vitamin E--(Spring) Entrepreneurship (Criteria 3)

Bringing this project back from the past, Vitamin E (Entrepreneurship) is a method of helping small businesses with basic business skills. Last spring the team hosted an Entrepreneurial Fair to allow students, small business ventures, and other members in the community a chance to show off their talents and products. The money raised through the booth fees and donations, allowed NNU SIFE to help a community in Krusha, Kenya to buy a much needed spinning loom. This year the team will expand the Vitamin E fair to allow more individuals to sell their products, while providing them with a networking channel to promote interaction with fellow entrepreneurs.  This will involve strategic planning for the team, and a chance to be involved with the community and network ourselves.

Money Madness (Fall - Spring)--Financial Literacy (Criteria 4)

 This project, also continued from previous years, is designed to teach college students a little about credit and finances to prepare them for what lays ahead in life.  This idea was set up in a simulation game to give students hands-on experience in dealing with finances.  This year, the game has been modified to include more options, risks, penalties, and rewards to give a more life-like feel.  The fall trial had a limited number of students present, but gave us some good experience for what we need to do in the spring with the project.  We have a grant from AIG for $750 for this project and are looking to finding new ways to continue this interactive financial simulation.

Polymer Money (Fall)

A new project involving polymer money is on the horizon for the SIFE team. Polymer money is used in many countries as a substitute for paper currency because it is has several advantages over paper money; it is more durable and cheaper to create. The team is in the process of researching polymer money and plans to lobby the case with the Idaho legislature. The plan is to help promote polymer money so that Idaho can join the trend towards this economically friendly and efficient money supply.

Next year, NNU SIFE plans to involve other SIFE teams around the United States to follow suite and move for a change to polymer money in their respective state.

This gives students a great opportunity to experience lobbying and make a positive impact on Idaho and eventually the United States.

Smart Women Smart Money (Fall)--Personal Success Skills (Criteria 2)

The SIFE team likes to be partner with conference and events in the Treasure Valley that share the teams goals and objectives. SIFE has consistently volunteered members to assist in the annual Smart Women, Smart Money conference. This year the team sent five students to help assist with setting up the event.  We hope to be involved in future conferences like this and perhaps teach a seminar within the event.

World Winter Games of the Special Olympics (Fall and Spring)--Personal Success Skills & Environmental Sustainability (Criteria 2 & 6)

This February, we will have athletes from all over the world visiting our city giving us a great opportunity to make a difference.  We worked with the Games Organizing Committee and the City of Boise to propose a plan of “Greening the Games”.  Some of the projects within this idea include:

• Green Fair – We hope to create a few educational booths to be a part of the Games where we create pins to hand out to Athletes for meeting different criteria.  Trying to partner with museums or locations like the Discovery Center, we will try to create informational and interactive exhibits.  One booth might include an exhibit on planting trees and the effects of deforestation. 
• Eco-Bags – Every athlete that comes to the Games will receive a bag full of goodies.  To save resource and paper, we are putting information on zip files for the athletes and also formatting the documents the World Games Committee wants to include.  The athletes will also receive some educational materials on the zip drive that different members of our Campus Community are helping to develop.  Other items in the bag include a re-usable water bottle, a Green Journal (so that they can document some things they learn and take those ideas home), a Spuddy buddy, and other materials that promote the idea of “Going Green” and supporting our environment.
• Creating a Mural – We have access to design a mural downtown Boise in an area now known as “The Pit”.  There is a section of construction boards around this area in the dimensions of 278 x 8 feet. That is over 2,000 square feet that NNU SIFE has the opportunity to tell a story on!  The subject of the art will be focused on what it means to be environmentally friendly, as well as profiling what the World Winter Games of the Special Olympics means to Boise.  The design will be screen printed on 8x4 plywood panels, and the entire university is on board to help make this and accompanying projects a success.
• Green Partners – we are trying to create advocates in our community for becoming environmentally friendly. After the Games are over in February, we hope to create environmental sustainability by working through local businesses.  These businesses will have an opportunity to show off what they are doing to make this world a better and healthier environment for everyone.  Those we feel have a story to tell, will be a part of our Green Partners list that will be promoted in the Valley; they will also receive a sticker for their shop window that shows they are Green Partners.  Using these advocates for change, we hope to maintain a connection with these businesses to provide opportunities in the future for Green related efforts.

An Idaho Business Week (Fall and Spring)--Market Economics (1), Personal Success Skills (2)

This leads us to our last project of creating a rendition of an Idaho Business Week for Idaho high schools.  We already have an interactive financial game created, you may remember Money Madness, and hope to combine it with the principles of Idaho and Beyond, a couple of seminar topics, a copy of the Ethics Panel production filmed by Peppershock Media Productions, and the Ethics video our team helped produce.  Money Madness has already been played once this semester and we hope to use the grant money we won for making the game even better.

The estimated completion date for this project would be in March, and it would be an interactive package that will be sent out to schools all over Idaho.  The implementation of this project will be in two phases: