Active on more than 1,000 colleges and universities in 28 countries, SIFE is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing their classroom knowledge for small businesses and educational institutions to help better communities.

Margaret Prentice, a Sam Walton Fellow and lecturer in political economy and commerce, oversees the 18-member group.

“They’ve really been doing some exceptional work in the community,” she said.

Joe Stefani, a sophomore from Cary, was recently honored with a SIFE service leadership award, which he earned for his consulting services for Cerar’s Barnstormer, a Monmouth restaurant. The business’s owner, Kevin Cerar, was in need of assistance due to the resignation of his bookkeeper. As a result of Stefani’s expertise, the restaurant’s books are now computerized and Cerar has not only learned to use the computer, but he has also significantly cut his costs.

Juniors John Young of South Holland and Tamara Orte of Galesburg and sophomore Jordan Thierry of Beaverton, Ore., assembled a 45-minute lesson plan to help teach the fundamentals of the federal and state tax system to a Monmouth High School economics class. The plan, which includes a pre-knowledge quiz, mock 10-40EZ forms and mock W-2 samples, helps students understand where taxes go, what they are for and what the students should expect to receive back.

“It was interesting to see how many kids didn’t know much about filling out taxes and how eager they were to learn,” said Thierry, who joined the others in helping students fill out their 10-40EZ forms. “It was also a great opportunity for us to get some real learning experience, too.”

SIFE president Sehr Rachel Dean is heading up an international project based on creating multi-cultural and multi-lingual coloring books designed to demonstrate the differences in financial systems around the globe. Countries included in the project are India, Pakistan, Russia, Greece, Ghana, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka and France.

“This project is a great way to help other countries realize how different financial systems work and at the same time learn more about their own country,” said Dean.

On April 1, members of SIFE will travel to Chicago to attend the regional SIFE competition. A panel of local and national business leaders and entrepreneurs will rate the overall effectiveness of each team’s efforts. Joining Dean, Stefani and Thierry at the competition will be senior Erika Bill of Aurora, juniors Amber Voigt of Old Saybrook, Conn., and Carissa Murphy of Monmouth and sophomore Allissa Woloshyn of Hawthorn Woods.

Businesses or educational institutions wishing to contact SIFE for assistance should contact Prentice at 309-457-2366. The group’s Web site is http://department.monm.edu/sife/.