Students from the U of S have launched a unique entrepreneurial program with aboriginal high school students that promises to produce beneficial results for all involved.

The team has been dedicating much of their extracurricular time teaching local aboriginal high school students the importance of financial literacy as part of their “Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program.” The U of S students started this project through their involvement with Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a program operated by ACE (Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship) that encourages students to create economic opportunities in their communities.

As part of the students’ involvement in this program as well as the HSBC SIFE Financial Education Challenge, the U of S team will present the results of their project at a regional competition, the 2008 ACE Regional Exposition, in Calgary on Feb. 29. If they advance through the regional event, the team will present their project at the national competition later this year.

Through the Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program, the U of S team meets regularly with aboriginal high school students at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge in Saskatoon to teach them how to finance a business. The program is hoped to provide these high school students with financial skills they can utilize in their own lives and pass on to other in the aboriginal community.