Enactus Team a Runner-Up at Regionals

Published March 26 at 8:29 a.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Members of Keuka’s Enactus Team with Ferrara, left, present division chair Ann Tuttle, right with their trophy from regional competition.

Another competition trophy has joined the collection in the division of Business and Management on the second floor of Hegeman Hall, as the Keuka College Enactus team brought back a symbol of its performance at Friday’s (March 22) regional competition in Baltimore, Md.

Members of the presentation team, which included six student speakers, two alternates, and two audio-visual coordinators, presented Ann Tuttle, interim chair of the division, with a first runner-up trophy Monday morning.  Keuka finished behind the University of Virginia, York College, and Messiah College.

Enactus is an international, non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. The international organization formerly known as Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) changed its name to Enactus this fall. (more…)

Enactus Team Heads for Regional Competition

Published March 19 at 3:30 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Imagination. Courage. Determination. Partnership. Accountability. Curiosity. Those six traits and four community service initiatives will be shared by six Keuka students at the regional Enactus competition  in Baltimore, Md. March 22.

Enactus is an international, non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. The international organization formerly known as Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) changed its name to Enactus this fall.

Regional winners automatically receive an invitation to the national competition, which Keuka has done nine of the past 11 years. This year’s nationals will be held May 21-23 in Kansas City, Mo.

The Keuka team will deliver  a 17-minute presentation outlining four community service projects  it completed this year, Including:

• a Campus Sustainability Initiative (CSI) to reduce energy consumption and promote green awareness;
• One Piece a Week, an initiative to donate restored furniture to the Tompkins County Task Force for Battered Women; and
• entrepreneurial programs with Rochester-based PathStone, a private, not-for-profit regional community development and human service organization that provides services to farm workers, low-income families and economically depressed communities throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Vermont, Virginia, and Puerto Rico.

Members of the presentation team include:

• senior Desiree Ford of Harpursville, an organizational communication major and president of Enactus;
• freshman Rich Matrassi of New York Mills, an organizational communication major;
• sophomore Brittany Gleason of Carthage, a mathematics and management major and chief financial officer for Enactus;
• junior Darrcy Matthews of DeKalb Junction, a sports management and accounting major who  serves as the team’s competition coordinator
• sophomore Marilynn Schoen of Whitesville, an accounting and management major who works on the CSI initiative
• senior business management major Tom Hoang of Vietnam
• sophomore Josh Crummenauer and junior Jordan Eaves serve as competition alternates; and
• juniors Dan Stephens and Stephanie Collins serve as audio-visual coordinators.

The team is coached by faculty adviser Sam Ferrara, assistant professor of management.

SIFE Out, Enactus In

Published Oct. 26, 2012 at 2:23 p.m. by Doug Lippincott.

SIFE, a familiar acronym on the Keuka College campus since the advent of the 21^st century, no longer exists.

In a move designed to reaffirm its “long-standing commitment to using entrepreneurial action as a catalyst for progress,” the international organization Students in Free Enterprise has changed its name to Enactus.

“We needed a name that captured the entrepreneurial spirit that fuels everything we do,” said Alvin Rohrs, CEO. “We were also eager to create a name that reflected how global this organization has become.”

Some 57,000 students are members of Enactus clubs in 1,600 colleges and universities in 39 countries.

“Entrepreneurial action is not something that is relevant to a single culture or nationality,” said Rohrs. “What we do is just as powerful in Shanghai as it is in Sao Paulo, just as transformative whether we are in San Francisco or Sydney.”

Or in Keuka Park, N.Y., where the Keuka College SIFE  team has enhanced the quality of life in the region while qualifying for nine SIFE national competitions in the past 11 years. (more…)