By Matthew Dooley Staff writer
Susquehanna’s Enactus group took third place at its regional competition, earning a spot in the national competition.
At regionals, the group presented three of the nine projects Enactus had worked on over the year. The competition took place in Arlington, Virginia. All of the projects were student-led endeavors, and students used their business skills to better the projects in which they participated.
Enactus was formed under the motto, “Opportunity plus action equals progress.”
The group looks to create “a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business,” according to its page in the Susquehanna yearbook.
Nathaniel Leies is a junior creative writing and marketing major who has been involved in multiple projects and was one of the project presenters for the 2017 regional competition.
According to Leies: “The [projects] that were in our presentation this year were about working with youth in Chile to do a baseball project. We had one where we worked with a woman’s shelter in Bloomsburg to help empower some of the at-risk women, and the third one we presented on was our work with the Seals’ Den Cafe at the Selinsgrove High School.”
According to the Enactus advisor, George Cravitz: “The judges at the competitions will ask us, ‘Don’t you think you’re spreading yourselves a bit thin?’ And we respond, ‘We realize that, but every single project has come from our student base. Not one project has been imposed on us.’”
Enactus members created bilingual coloring books for the youth in Chile that would help encourage brand development skills. Members also taught business concepts to the Chilean youth, according to the annual 2016-2017 Enactus report.
At the Seals’ Den, “Enactus members assisted students with disabilities as they transition from high school to career paths,” according to the report.
Enactus members provided the women in Bloomsburg with “free panels in resume crafting, interview tips and mock trials. The members also created a webinar for the women to help with the job search,” according to the report.
“Enactus is a group on Susquehanna University’s campus that uses the principals of free enterprise and entrepreneurial activities to improve our project audiences,” Leies said.
The projects presented at regionals will be the same the group will present at the national competition, which will be held on May 21 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Susquehanna Enactus has impacted the lives of numerous people around the world; during Cravitz’s tenure at Susquehanna, he has seen the group work on more than 100 projects.
According to Cravitz, the students learn “to take that [business] vocation… to impact the life of people who need it, from a battered woman… to senior citizens who have problems budgeting for meals and going down and saying we can help you.”
Despite this chapter of Enactus being based at Susquehanna, the projects the group focuses on can better any part of the world.
According to Leies, “Our project audiences are basically different community partners, whether that community is here in Selinsgrove or [youth in Chile]. To help improve their lives, we use entrepreneurship, progress improvement and projects to do this.”
Being a new member of Enactus doesn’t mean you cannot participate. Enactus brings together majors of all kinds.
According to Cravitz, to become an active member, students need to participate in 10 hours of connection with an Enactus activity, whether that be going to a meeting or participating in one of the projects.
