Road to the World Cup

It's been a real journey for our team the last couple of years. Thanks for sharing in the experience with us on this blog. Feel free to use the blog archive on the right side of this page to view our first post and work your way back to this point. The video below contains just a few highlights of the incredible journey of this past year and our vision for the future. Thanks for being an important part of our team. Look for more updates in the future on our website at http://www.sifelink.com and our Build-a-Village blog at http://villagebuilding.blogspot.com.

This Moment

This week was a time for some real reflection on our past year in SIFE and a time to look forward with a vision of our potential future. But what really matters is now, this moment.

As college students, we spend each moment with the purpose of increasing our understanding of the world and our ability to change it. Education without action is meaningless.

As we think about the more than 50,000 college students in our local Riverside area alone, imagine what is possible when we work together. As I look out at the smoke-filled sky and colored moon from fires still burning in our area, I feel that I should not be sitting here in my office but doing something about it. Our SIFE team has spent years looking at poverty, lack of basic healthcare, areas with no educational opportunities, and destroyed communities as the problems, spread like a fire unchecked. The question remained the same "What can we do?" We are not the same team we were when many of us started on this team two years ago. Once we were unsure of what we could accomplish.
What I can say in pride of this team after two years of changing, motivating, and building is that the response to the question is no longer "I don't know what we can do," but rather "Here's something we can do" leading to "Here is what we are going to do right now." Something happened to our generation and many of us are now waking up from it. We are seeing a movement of young people no longer saying "Oh no! Somebody do something," or even worse "I don't know/care, someone else can handle it," but now having a hunger to engage themselves in the world around them. Our team shared this through our words at the World Cup, and once again, it is time for all of us to share it through our actions.

Thank you all so much for supporting the actions of our team. And thank you to those of you who celebrated with us in University Worship today. Dr. Wisbey said such wonderful things about our team and the potential of the students of La Sierra University. I see the symbol of our work over the past couple of years not as our National Trophy and World Cup, but rather the living testament of how hard the SIFE team is working.

Every day we have opportunities to make a difference. Every moment, we have a choice. That World Cup says that I was a part of changing the world and inspiring individuals all around it. What do my actions right now say?

Having that drive, that determination to make a difference, the firm belief that nothing is impossible, that we will have an impact, the realization that we must learn all we can to increase the potential of that impact: that is what it means to be a champion, and that is what it means to be a student of La Sierra University.

Presentation Preparation with Adam and John

We had a great time giving our presentation one final time on Wednesday in Las Vegas at the Pepsi/Frito Lay/Wal-Mart "Elevate" event. After a week of traveling and presenting, though, we were pretty exhausted. A bunch of the team got sick. Waking up for that last presentation wasn't easy. Somehow I always have to get up first while Adam sleeps. Hello 5:00 A.M.
To the left is my...well let's just call this the "before" photo.

Here is me 15 min later...Okay 30 minutes later (the bathrooms had flatscreen televisions in them).

Success!!!

Now watch the video below to see me trying to wake up Adam.

And next is Adam doing his hair. Is he talking to me or himself? You decide.

On the Road Again

And you thought we were done! In about fifteen minutes, the team is leaving for Las Vegas, which means I can't be my usual rambling self as I still have to run home and repack. We are giving the presentation one last time for a corporate retreat of executives and managers from Pepsi, Frito Lay, and Wal-Mart. It will be nice to do the presentation without some of the pressure that comes with competition. After that, we will close our presentation run. It's time to make room for the new and improved team of students. I have to tell you, you will honestly be blown away by the passion they have. I'm looking forward to watching the next presentation from the audience instead of on the stage. It's pretty exciting.

Now Everyone Can Comment

So I uh went ahead and changed the setting that was preventing everyone from being able to leave us comments. I was wondering why we weren't getting any. Oops... :)

Comment away. You no longer have to be a registered user to leave a comment.

Get 'Em While They're Hot: Student Entrepreneurs

UPDATE: The student team at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif., took the top prize in the Students in Free Enterprise competition for its

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The monday after (by Carrie)

Hey did we win? Honestly, it doesn't even feel like I was there until I see all the pictures. You know how you always try to forget those times when you had the flu...you generally want to wipe that memory away? Well, I will never forget Friday, October 12, 2007! Thanks to everyone for their congratulations. But, thanks even more for the prayers and support to just give me 30 minutes without nausia for the final four round. God definately helped me up there and your guys' support was amazing. It's either that or the fact that I was a walking pharmacy! :)
Hooray for La Sierra!

Beyond the Bottom Line

I am back at work in the Office of Service-Learning at La Sierra University. Unofficially of course, so don't spread that around too soon. When we arrived here at LSU at about 3:00 this morning. At that time, I thought I would want to just sleep all day, but I just felt this strong need this morning to come to work.

I have been a complete World Cup Trophy hog the last couple of days. It was so much fun carrying it around to the airport and on the plane. I think my favorite moment yesterday was when I was sent through airport security with workers cheering and patting me on the back, and Adam Phillips, who was walking behind me, getting pulled aside to be searched.

I have the trophy here in my office right now, but today it will be sent to its rightful place traveling around the campus. One test of a champion is what comes after success. I have gotten to watch the new team act as true champions. Our work does not stop upon the receipt of recognition. I know the rest of the team woke up today as I did, with a hunger to get back to work and make a difference in the world around them. This team now has a very important responsibility. Teams around the world are now looking to them for inspiration and direction. The question may start with "how did they do it?" but that soon evolves into "how can we do more together?" Our goal was to share with teams around the world that Students in Free Enterprise have gone beyond only competition, to go beyond the bottom line as Dean Thomas taught us.

We build upon our failures and celebrate our success by increasing our efforts. These students are ready to do just that. The Students in Free Enterprise team at La Sierra University will continue to grow and build upon itself, increasing sustainability and working effectively with others around the world. This is not about a new team reaching the same level as an old team. This is about one team with the passion and committment to lead a student movement for an entire generation. And I believe that teams around the world now realize that they too are leaders in this movement, inspiring others, including us.

Picture Time!!!

Alright! I finally have some pictures to share.
This one to your left is of William Hickey, the President/CEO of the Sealed Air Corporation. They are the ones who produce Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, Instapak, and Jiffy Mailer, and just recently acquired ETHAFOAM. I was watching Mr. Hickey during the section of our presentation where we talk about our ethics project. In our project, we developed a student code of ethics based upon the Sealed Air Corporation Code of Conduct. He was sitting in the front row of judges tables (as he was one of our judges) and almost jumped out of his seat with excitement when we were giving our presentation. He came and found me afterwards and now we are developing a partnership to create a new ethics training program for Sealed Air and our other audiences.
The photo to your right is one of my favorites. After I finally made it out of the main presentation hall with the World Cup trophy, students from all other teams rushed to get a photo with the trophy and I (ok so just the trophy, but hey!). I have to find where the others like this one went, but there must have been at least 40 students in one of them. It was alot of fun. All of the students at the competition had such a great attitude and had so much passion. It was wonderful to be able to share the experience of holding the World Cup with them.

I think this image is pretty self-explanatory. But Carrie is still going to have some explaining to do when she gets home. If you zoom in on the Cup, you can get a great shot of a funny looking face. I'm sure you can visit this blog soon for retaliation photos of me from Carrie.

Here are some of the guys celebrating at the short reception following the closing ceremonies. And don't worry kids, it's only water.

More celebration!!!

And more to come...Time to go to the airport.

Finally I get to Blogg (Warren)

This past week has definately been one to tell stories of for years to come. It has been an honor to work with some of the most hard working people I have ever encountered. The past year, I have learned so much about leadership and keeping an organization sustainable with the concepts and philosophies implemented into our SIFE organization by John Razzouk. I encourage each and everyone of you to support next year's SIFE team. Have pride in your university and the message of service to the world. No matter how much money you make, I guarantee you, nothing will fullfill your life more than helping people. I realized this year that life is more than just the bottom line ( A message our SIFE Team shared with the world at competition).

I was given the opportunity to meet with people from around the world and learn more about my team members like Jose Ruiz ( A really cool guy) during this competition. The passion they have is amazing, and we as American who are blessed have a responsibility to empower people around the world. I love La Sierra University and have grown so much here (Right Cheryl? -inside joke) Henry Ford once said, " Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success."

Final Presentation Video Working

The video of our World Cup winning presentation is now available

2007 World Cup Champion - USA from SIFE on Vimeo.

Everyone is trying to get photos together, so we should be getting those up as soon as we get back. Our faculty fellow Andy Truong and I just finished watching it. I was getting goosebumps just as much as when I am doing the presentation with the team on stage. Everyone did such a great job. And I saw myself beaming on stage while watching the other presenters deliver their message with such passion. We are already working on how to take things to the next level. Under the leadership of the new team, the potential for our projects has increased exponentially.

World Cup Champions!!!

We won!!! I still can't believe it. I am sitting in my hotel room staring at the World Cup trophy! We went up on that stage and gave the best presentation of our lives to a room full of CEO judges, students from around the world, and the rest of our amazing team. I was getting goosebumps the entire time. I didn't get a chance to watch the video of our final presentation but I couldn't stop smiling every time one of the other presenters said something. Everyone had so much passion it was like a wave passing over the entire room.

Everyone was on fire! Carrie had been up all night sick but delivered her presentation with so much passion that the rest of us had to kick things into a higher gear to match her. Warren captured everyone's attention with the first sentence of the entire presentation. Deisy nearly had judges standing to cheer her on as she spoke. And Adam totally stepped up and blew people away during the 5-min Q&A period where the judges could ask us any questions they wanted to. Watching all of that unfold around me during the presentation, I was so excited that I had to work to keep my hands steady and my microphone from going all over the place by the end of the presentation. It was just so incredible! We just kept feeding off of each other's passion. The entire audience stood and cheered after Carrie delivered the final line.

Several of us had spent two years of our lives moving towards this moment. We wanted the opportunity to share with the world that we don't have to wait until we are 20-30 years into a career. We can change the world right now as students. College is where you find what you are truly made of, what your limits are, what your true potential could be. Well this team of students gets it, and we are spreading that message all over the world. It is the responsibility of our generation to work together to make a real, sustainable change in the world. One of my favorite new writers, Alex Steffen, said in a recent article "Don't just be the change, mass-produce it." This is what we shared with the world today. We are no longer satisfied only working in our own isolated areas. We must do more and we can do more right now.

We had the chance to meet students from all around the world who feel this same way. We just had a global gathering of individuals not afraid to ask the question "why not?" There is no reason why we shouldn't work together to deal with real world problems. And so we do.

At La Sierra University we are at a real advantage. Our diversity is an incredible strength upon which we must build. When we put students together from entirely different backgrounds, the potential for development of new ideas increases exponentially. This is what makes our SIFE team successful. We have individuals who can be entirely different from one another but still share a common goal, for their education to actually have meaning and purpose. And what better purpose for education than for it to be utilized in service to others.

I couldn't be more proud of our La Sierra University SIFE Team. They are serving as an inspiration to students around the world and now leading the way in the movement for this generation to make a difference in this world.

Please give your support to the new LSU SIFE President Ryan Blackerby and the new team. We are already watching them go far beyond the success and impact of the team I have had the opportunity to lead the last two years. Their passion and hard work makes our results mean something. We can know that our efforts are sustainable and will not just fade away into nothingness. And knowing that is an incredible feeling.

This World Cup has been an incredible experience for all of us. It is now time for our old leadership team and presentation team to complete the transition and make way for the new leaders and presenters. And from what I've seen, this new team is going to teach the rest of us a thing or two about impact.

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Look for some blog posts from the other members of the presentation team over the next few days. Due to limited availability of internet access and time factors, it has been difficult for them to have the opportunity to put anything on here. We'll be sure to get all kinds of fun photos, video, and messages from the presenters on very soon. There are so many people to thank regarding SIFE this week, but I would like to give a special thanks to Larry Becker and Ron "Webmaster!" Forbes for getting such a great news page put together for us. Many of you might be reading this because of the link from that page.

Thank you all for your support. We are looking forward to returning home to celebrate with our friends and family at La Sierra University. Jeremy Ramos and I also happen to have a test on Monday (Hi Dr. Kugler!)...

(More to come)

(And don't forget to leave a comment or two)

Message from Dr. Wisbey

I can't even begin to describe the sense of pride and excitement that each of us are experiencing as we watch our team. John, Carrie, Adam, Deisy, and Warren are remarkable, and they have an uncanny ability to share all that we have learned about service with uncanny poise. I can hardly wait to see them take the stage and share our campus' determination to see the world transformed.

I spoke with Elder Don Schneider, President of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. They will soon be in meetings with all of our world church leaders, and he is keeping our team in prayer. He looks forward to sharing with the church leaders this evening that LSU has represented our church with incredible enthusiasm.

Final Four!!!

The team is now gathered right outside the main presentation hall preparing to give our final four presentation at the World Cup. One of the top four teams will be selected to represent the world as global SIFE champion. Deisy and Yennie are sitting next to me making sure their names get in to the blog. Now they are laughing. Right now we are trying to just relax and focus on the presentation we are about to make. The whole team is gathered around us here and encouraging us as we prepare. Dr. Wisbey just kneeled behind me to ensure this blog is meeting university standards. I kid. He sends his warmest greetings to you all. Keep us in your prayers. We are taking the stage in just a few minutes. This has been such an incredible year for the team and it is so exciting to be able to share our story this last time on the world stage.

On to the semi-final round

We are on to the next round!!! After some tough competition, we have moved on along with 15 other SIFE teams from around the world. Tomorrow we compete again as we work toward the final four round. The teams in our league are (in order).

Singapore

Zimbabwe

United States (at 10:25 EST)

Uzbekistan

We just received the packet of judges comments from today. There were some great responses that we had been hoping for. We also got some great feedback to help us improve ourselves for the next round. 

Opening Round Starts Tomorrow

We just got back from the opening ceremonies for the world cup here in New York City. The night concluded with an automated distribution of the teams into eight leagues for the first round of competition tomorrow. This world cup competition includes 44 teams from countries around the world. Each of these teams is the national champion for their country. This will not be an easy competition by any means. Tomorrow we are in a league with the teams from:

Senegal
Puerto Rico
Singapore
Germany
Lesotho
United States (that's us whooooooo!!!)

We get to give our presentation last in the schedule at 3:45 EST. Winners of the opening round will be announced in the evening. We are being narrowed down from 44 to 16 teams in this process, in preparation for the final four round.

We had such a great time tonight meeting teams from all around the world. It was so incredible to have our team called up on stage to represent the U.S. as we host this World Cup Competition. Keep us in your prayers. We are looking forward to sharing our story tomorrow.

And leave some comments for us (or questions). The team loves to feel that connection with everyone back home.

The Waiting

The team took the red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York City last night/this morning. Almost all of us have finally gotten to our rooms. A few of us (myself included) are still waiting for ours to open up. So we don't look too impressive right now, but we took the opportunity while waiting for our room to go and meet some of the other SIFE teams around the lobby here in the New York City Hilton. We had a great time meeting students from the teams from Amsterdam and Kazakhstan. We are looking forward to meeting all of the other teams tonight at the cultural fair and opening ceremonies. More later...Our room just opened up!!!

Fire in the Hole!!!

This past year has been quite a journey for the team. It had been in the works since the end of the previous competition cycle. Everyone was so dedicated and so passionate about their work that it was only natural that the same came out in the actual presentation of our operations and results. We are leaving for New York City tonight to share that story. Adam and I primarily present on the Build-a-Village project and our on-campus village that we are building (Fire in the Hole). The whole decision to stay at LSU at least an extra year to work on an M.B.A. (last year) was based initially upon the fact that I would have the opportunity to work on this project with American-Sudanese Partnerships. Everytime I read the updates on their blog AmericanSudanesepartnerships.blogspot.com I want to jump up out of my chair and cheer. I am really excited about this week. We are leaving for the airport in less than five hours. It won't be easy trying to sleep on the flight to NY. There's just so much to think about. Well for now, check out this fun highlights video of our journey to the final round of the National competition in Dallas earlier this year.

The Blogging Begins

Hi,

John Razzouk here. La Sierra University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team President 2005-2007. The team is gearing up for the World Cup this week. We will be representing La Sierra University, Riverside, California, and the United States of America (wooooooh!!!). We're pretty excited about it too.

Throughout this week, I, and the rest of the five member presentation team will be giving you fun updates of the competition process and thoughts about the SIFE experience.

Join us, leave comments, good times!!!