SIFE to host regional financial competition Nov. 8-10 The Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization at UND has been chosen by a national committee to host “Duel in the Valley,” a regional, personal financial case study competition. The UND SIFE group is one of only eight schools chosen to host this competition, and the only university chosen within the Midwest. The competition will take place Nov. 8-10, with events being held on the UND campus at the Hilton Garden Inn, the Center for Innovation, and Gamble Hall. The final competition and awards ceremony will be Saturday morning, Nov. 10, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center for Innovation. At the Duel in the Valley event, teams are given a hypothetical case study about a family in financial distress. In 36 hours competitors must research the situation and design a reasonable, workable and creative solution to the dilemma, based on the family’s situation, economics, geography and resources. Each team presents their results to a panel of Grand Forks financial professionals, who decide which team has best resolved the family’s finances. The purpose of the Duel in the Valley program is to develop and increase financial literacy among college students. With credit card debt at a monstrous $2 trillion and escalating bankruptcies, students are able to enhance their awareness of money management through case study analysis. The UND SIFE team and this year’s Duel in the Valley winning team will advance to a national competition in Tucson, March 6-9, which is hosted by the University of Arizona Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and sponsored by Take Charge America, a non-profit national credit counseling company based in Phoenix. The competition will be held on the University campus Thursday, Nov. 8, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Nov. 9, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Nov. 10, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Representatives from six universities are scheduled to compete, which include St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota Crookston, North Central University, Dakota State University, Southwest State University, and University of Mary.