A trip to Chile opened the minds of four Penn State business students and two Smeal College of Business faculty members to another culture's business practices last spring.

Penn State's chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) provides community outreach opportunities to business students and helps them develop as professionals.

Four members of Penn State's SIFE chapter took the international service trip to Chile, along with Smeal College of Business staff members Jack Latham, coordinator of student and corporate services, and Jessica Sremanak, assistant director of corporate relations.

Sremanak said learning about Chile's culture and economy was extremely valuable for the business students.

"It really opens your mind to think about things differently," Sremanak said. "I think it impacts how you view business problems and opportunities and that kind of thing."

The mission of SIFE is to change the world by doing projects around its five pillars: market economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, business ethics and success skills, Sremanak said. The nonprofit organization is active in more than 40 countries.

Dan Farrell (senior-finance) was one of the SIFE members to travel to Chile:

Can you tell me more about SIFE?

SIFE is a global, nonprofit organization that is literally changing the world through highly dedicated student teams on more than 1,500 university campuses in 37 countries ... In a nutshell, we are a business-based community service organization. We teach business skills and work with businesses to try and help them succeed. We then present our service projects at a regional competition each spring.

Why did you take the trip?

Every year, SIFE tries to do an international service trip. The trip is meant to provide community service abroad, since all throughout the year we do service in the U.S. This trip also helps SIFE as an organization because outside of SIFE, it is really hard to take a trip abroad and do community service at no cost. We spent the majority of our time in Santiago, Chile.

What did you do while in Chile?

As far as service goes, we gave seminars on personal finance and U.S. business ethics to a group of about 15 highly educated Chilean citizens. We also taught English at a well-established school using the direct method, which means you only speak English to teach English.

What was it like to study with Chile's former minister of economy and energy Jorge Rodríguez-Grossi?

Meeting him was amazing. Since I study finance and economics, meeting a man at the top of these fields was very interesting. He talked all about Chile's and Latin America's economic history and future outlook.

What did you do for fun?

We made sure to try a lot of Chilean food and drink, as well as see as much of Chile as possible. We visited a local winery, a Nobel-prize winning poet's house and an artisan and craft market. All these places showed us the character of Chile. We also visited Vino del Mar and Valparaiso on the last few days of our trip to experience more of the country.

Did you live with a host family?

Yes. This was one of the best parts. I barely speak Spanish, and my host barely spoke English, but we could get our point across to each other and it was a lot of fun communicating with her. I learned a lot of Spanish and about Chilean customs as well.

What was your favorite moment of the trip?

Teaching English to students at the school. The students and myself were humbled by the communication barrier, and we both learned a lot about each other's culture.

What did you learn from your experience abroad?

[I learned] that the USA is not the only country that matters in the world economy, and we are ignorant to think that we can control the world's affairs.