Two Salmon Arm students at Okanagan College’s School of Business have been named among the top in the country when it comes to helping others with financial literacy.
Tom Arrowsmith and Kris Goralski, both of Salmon Arm, shared in a second-place finish in the Capital One SIFE Financial Education Challenge at this year’s Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship National Exposition which took place in Calgary earlier this month.
Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a non-for-profit student organization where students get together and tackle projects in their community in an attempt to create a positive social, economic and environmental impact. The Okanagan SIFE has only been operating for six years and has already won many awards.
Ryan Rithaler, the SIFE Okanagan vice president at the Salmon Arm campus, also was acknowledged for exceptional business acumen. Rithaler was one of the members of the Okanagan team who finished among the top eight in the country at the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship competition.
The three men were part of a large contingent of students that took part from all four Okanagan College campuses.
“Our team’s performance at the nationals in Calgary caps off what has been an amazing second year for SIFE in Salmon Arm,” said Megan Mills, Okanagan School of Business professor and SIFE Okanagan faculty advisor for Salmon Arm.
“All three of these students have been active members of our successful Launch-a-Preneur program, and now have these feathers in their caps as well. SIFE Salmon Arm is proof that you don’t need a lot of people when you’ve got the right people.”
The financial literacy program team impressed the judges with its three-pronged family life-cycle approach that educates those struggling with numeracy issues, whether they are in elementary school, college, or trying to make ends meet as adults.
Okanagan College also achieved high national standings in other areas as well. Some of these include coming in fifth in Nationals, and getting top six in the Scotia bank SIFE Green challenge. The college also won the Canadian Campbell’s Let’s Can Hunger competition for the third year in a row. The Penticton and Salmon Arm area raised over 80,000 pounds of food this year alone.