Education in Action

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a very unique organization. Our La Sierra University SIFE team is no exception. Upon examining the way we model our budget and funding, you may see us as a non-profit organization. Speaking to other groups on campus you may see us a club. Community organizations see us as a partner. Those affected by our projects see us as their friends. But what is SIFE to those within the organization itself?

One of the best ways to describe our experience is service-learning. What good is an education if it is not applied and utilized? As students, we are often impatient upon learning new things. We get so excited about the new things that we learn that we immediately want to begin using our new knowledge, skills, and abilities in the world around us. SIFE is for that kind of student. We want to do something with our lives, but we still recognize that we are students of life, for life.

The National Youth Leadership Council has a great explanation of Service-Learning:

"Picking up trash on a riverbank is service.

Studying water samples under a microscope is learning.

When science students collect and analyze water samples, document their results, and present findings to a local pollution control agency … that is service-learning.

Service-learning is a teaching method that enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities. Young people apply academic skills to solving real-world issues, linking established learning objectives with genuine needs. They lead the process, with adults as partners, applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills to concerns such as hunger, pollution, and diversity."

It's a great model that makes great sense. It involves the same building upon strengths that exists at the heart of our village-building project. Far too often, when seeking a way to be kind or charitable, we engage in activities that may help others without being at all useful to ourselves. Or perhaps we buy a handful of bookmarks or other items not of much use to us because the proceeds go to a good cause. SIFE takes a different approach. We believe that it is perfectly possible to develop sustainable win-win situations by using basic, time-tested concepts of the free-market econonomic system.

By working on SIFE projects which greatly benefit others, I myself greatly benefit in terms of the amazing and unique experiences which result. Application is not just a welcome supplement to education, it is an intricate part of education itself.

"Service-learning is education in action." — Sen. John Glenn