Team Advances to Semi-finals at 2009 National Exposition

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. The Drury University Students In Free Enterprise team has advanced to the second round of the SIFE USA, National Competition.

In the opening round of the National Competition, the teams that advanced past the regional level are grouped into leagues of eight, with one team advancing out of each league. By luck of the draw, Drury SIFE was paired against the reigning SIFE National Champions, the University of Arizona. With the pressure building, the entire Drury SIFE team, now consisting of 60 members took the stage as they were announced to be one of the three finalists from league one. As the second runner-up was announced to be Anderson University the tension grew tighter. It had come down to Arizona or Drury. As the announcer read the first runner-up, The University of Arizona, pandemonium broke out inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, as the reigning National Champions had been eliminated.

"Drawing Arizona in the first round was certainly tough, and we knew that we would have to bring our best with the presentation, but we have always been confident in our projects," said Drury SIFE Director Josh Jones. "We may have advanced past the reigning National Champs, but we are going to have to be on again tomorrow, we are not finished yet."

Drury will next take the stage at 11:05 a.m. Tuesday May 12, 2009. 16 league winners are now moving on to the second round in Philadelphia, with the final round occurring Tuesday afternoon.

Drury will be paired against Elmira College out of Elmira, NY., Centenary College of Hackettstown, NJ. and Briar Cliff University, located in Sioux City, Iowa.

Drury SIFE, now in its twelfth year is making its tenth appearance in the round of sixteen and has made it to the final four five of those years.

Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a global non-profit organization active on more than 1,800 college campuses in more than 43 countries and territories. Student teams develop projects to help create economic opportunity by teaching concepts related to free market economics, business ethics, entrepreneurship, personal finance and success skills. ###