Four students from the organization Students in Free Enterprise competed in a national business competition Thursday to Sunday. They didn't take first place, but the experience was more than enough to make them winners.
Tara Hansen, Adam Jackson, Jeff Miller and Brian O'Neill represented Chico State in a national personal finance competition in Tucson, Ariz. Hansen and Jackson competed in a regional competition in January and took first place, which secured them a spot in the national round. The group didn't make the top four and was automatically put in fifth with the other universities, Hansen said.
"We would have been in the top 10 had it been placed," Hansen said.
Valdosta State University in Georgia won first place and a prize of $4,000.
The 22 teams had to research a personal finance case study involving a family in financial distress, Hansen said. The teams analyzed the case and presented their solutions to 20 judges.
The time constraint is the biggest difficulty. The students don't sleep because they don't want to lose time to work, Hansen said.
The team members received the case study at
8 p.m. Thursday and conducted research until 8 a.m. Sunday. The study focused on a Native American family who lived on a reservation and wanted to move, Miller said.
The Chico State team traveled to the reservation the study referenced. Miller said he didn't know if the family was real but that the location and housing concerns were.
A family member in the study suffered from chronic diabetes, and a child was developing pre-diabetes, Miller said. The family was also spending more than they made. The team came up with a solution to help the family with its financial and health concerns.
Hansen said the team members met someone at the reservation who added onto a house instead of moving, and they used that example for their solution, Hansen said.
The reservation is on the border between Arizona and Mexico, Hansen said. The team didn't realize that drug trafficking is a problem in that area, and it should have been included in the solution, she said.
Drug trafficking interferes with the personal safety of the family, Hansen said.
Adviser Tom Wilder said the trick to winning the competition is designing a solution that is different. Advisers are not allowed to help and did not travel with the team, he said.
Students are exposed to the judges and are able to network while they are there, Wilder said.
The organization's other adviser, Sean Morgan, said the students showed a lot of aggressiveness by competing.
"It's a big deal just to do that," Morgan said. "It's easy to stay at home."
Shannon Lawrence can be reached at slawrence@theorion.com
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