Despite being the only two-year institution in their bracket, the Blue Ridge Community College Students in Free Enterprise team left the Charlotte regional event as Champions and will head to the national competition in Minneapolis in May.

This was BRCC SIFE’s sixth Regional Championship. Additionally, SIFE awards various special topic competition awards, and the BRCC team was named a finalist in five of the six Individual Topic Competition Areas:

- Market Economics Competition - sponsored by SIFE USA - project was LaGonave Entrepreneurial Gardens
- Success Skills - sponsored by Robert Half International - project was GradClass
- Entrepreneurship Competition - sponsored by SIFE USA - project was Haiti Rabbit Cooperative
- Financial Literacy Competition - sponsored by HSBC - project I Choose to Succeed
- Business Ethics Competition - sponsored by Seal Air - Workplace Ethics Training Video

Adviser Rebecca Evans felt that the team’s real impact on individuals, especially through their projects in Haiti, is what set them apart in the competition.

She says, “Haiti has been one of the focal points of several of our team's projects since 2007. Not only is it a country that truly benefits from any form of microbusiness, but its people genuinely appreciate the hand up they are given. The experience also has a profound affect on our students, opening their eyes to the privileges they are afforded everyday simply by living in the U.S."