News Release

Download investment simulation software

Students Win SIFE Regional, Compete at National

  • Students in Free Enterprise empower business owners overseas
  • SIFE team wins regional competition
  • Team advances to compete in national exposition

Students Win SIFE Regional, Compete at National

Economics students from Dr. Eun Ahn’s entrepreneurial service learning course will be representing Trinity at the upcoming 2008 USA Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) National Exposition in Chicago May 13-15.

The team qualified after winning the SIFE Regional Competition and will now advance to the next level to compete with more than 140 teams comprising more than 3,200 students.

Through a written annual report and live audio-visual presentation, SIFE teams will report the results of their community outreach projects to panels of business leaders serving as judges and be evaluated based on how successful they were at creating economic opportunity for others.

Trinity SIFE team members are:

Katie Boss ’08 of Beecher, Illinois
Samantha Buell ’09 of Frankfort, Illinois
Grant Davids ’09 of Willowbrook, Illinois
Joshua DeBoer ’10 Schererville, Indiana
Evan Grossman ’08 of Burr Ridge, Illinois
Karina Haro ’08 of Alsip, Illinois
Matthew Jensen ’09 of Lisle, Illinois
Chester Jones ’09 of Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois
Jett Jousma ’08 of Oak Lawn, Illinois
Alyssa Rhoades ’08 of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Tim Ridderbos ’09 of Balwin, Missouri
Kirstie Sherman ’08 of East Dover, Vermont
Jim Stecko ’08 of Dearborn Heights, Michigan
Crystal Williams ’11 of University Park, Illinois
Amy Workman ’09 of Brookfield, Illinois

“My experience at SIFE was fulfilling because we were able to apply what we learned from our professors and make a difference in the lives of others,” said Jim Stecko ’08 of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. “The chance to work with kids and get them motivated and excited about learning is what makes the real difference.”

Trinity’s SIFE program started in late 2004 and has expanded, this year, to implement its first international projects, including:

  • Store development in Jamaica
  • Investment simulation
  • Assisting a budding entrepreneur
  • Assisting Malawian business people obtain micro loans
  • Free trade simulation
  • AIG-sponsored underclassmen credit and budgeting seminar

“Our group with only 15 members completed over 10 service projects in the 2008 spring semester, two of which were international projects,” said Tim Ridderbos, co-president. “A great performance at the national competition can propel the SIFE program to a higher level, establishing it as a secure service program on this campus.”
 
For more information about SIFE and the national exposition, visit http://www.sife.org/sifeusaexpo/about_expo.asp.

 

INVESTMENT SIMULATION SOFTWARE

This year a Trinity Christian College SIFE team member, Steve Verhagen, wrote and developed investment simulation software for the SIFE team to use to teach young adults and highschoolers about the stock market in an investment competition. This program allows participants to “buy and sell” any stocks they choose with fictitious money, while getting real time stock quotes from Yahoo Finance. Throughout the competition, users can see their progress per stock and their portfolio performance as a whole. They can also see how their simulated investment experience ranks against any other member in the competition. In Trinity’s competition, the program was set up to give each team $100,000 fictitious dollars and four weeks to achieve the highest portfolio value. The simulation is a great way not only to learn about the stock market, but also to give people opportunities to understand how the market works, to use investing tools and research, and apply what they are learning in SIFE lectures without the risk of any financial loss.

This Investment Simulation Software is available for download by any SIFE team that wants to use this program as a teaching tool. There are two programs:

First: The Investment Software - This is the basic program. Download the Investment Server program here.

Second: The Investment Server Admin Tool - This tool allows anyone to modify and build on the Investment Server. Download the Investment Server Admin Tool here.

A detailed graphical walkthrough of the program is available here.

 

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