Dr. Scott Bellamy, associate professor of economics at Wesleyan, has been named a Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow for the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team at West Virginia Wesleyan College. He serves as advisor for the Wesleyan SIFE team and was named a Fellow in recognition of his leadership and support of the SIFE program at Wesleyan.

More than 400 Sam M. Walton Fellows nationwide train and motivate more than 30,000 SIFE team members annually. The Fellowship was created in 1990 by the Wal-Mart Foundation and is named for Samuel More Walton, founder and chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "We are proud that the Walton family invited SIFE to use Mr. Walton's name to give the Free Enterprise Fellows a standard by which to lead and be recognized," said Alvin Rohrs, president & CEO of SIFE. "The Sam M. Walton Fellows inspire their students and are America's most effective teachers of free enterprise."

Under Dr. Bellamy's direction, the Wesleyan SIFE team matched their educational outreach projects against the programs of other SIFE teams at the 2002 SIFE Regional Competition and Career Opportunity Fair held April 8 and 9, 2002, in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a result of the team's hard work throughout the year, they were named Regional Champions for the second consecutive year.

"I'm very proud of our SIFE team," said Dr. Bellamy. "They have volunteered hundreds of hours of their time, using their talents and abilities to make a positive difference in the lives of others in our community and beyond."

The projects presented by the Wesleyan SIFE team included: selling Kayamandi-bead jewelry to help support families in South Africa, teaching children at Central Elementary school about global markets and money principles, helping senior girl scouts earn their Dollars & Sense badge, teaching Spanish to children at the Child Development Center, teaching fellow college students about the responsible use of credit, providing a forum for a campus discussion of the events of 9-11, participating in Make a Difference Day activities to benefit the Salvation Army and the Stockert Youth Center, and providing accounting services to the BrazenHead Inn.

The students presented their program to a panel of local and national business leaders and entrepreneurs who rated the overall effectiveness of each team's efforts. Regional champions named at 21 competitions held around the country will present their projects at the 2002 SIFE USA National Exposition, sponsored by the Kansas City Business Community, May 12-14 in Missouri. The national champion in the four-year division will travel to Amsterdam in September to compete at the second annual SIFE World Cup.
Teams were judged on the effectiveness of their projects during a 24-minute presentation and were evaluated on creativity and innovation, results of education programs, success in utilizing resources, and documentation of activities. Wesleyan SIFE students also met with dozens of corporate representatives from the Cincinnati business community to discuss job opportunities.

Founded in 1975, and active on more than 1,000 college and university campuses in 28
countries, SIFE is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to provide college students the opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing, and teaching the principles of free enterprise. For more information, contact SIFE World Headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, at 1-800-677-SIFE or Dr. Scott Bellamy at 304- 473-8477 or visit www.SIFE.org.