By Madeleine Faircloth
Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure University’s ENACTUS team made it to the top 16 in the ENACTUS USA National Exposition in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The expo takes place once a year with student, academic and business leaders from across the nation in attendance with a field of more than 200 schools from across the nation.
It includes a national competition that showcases how ENACTUS students better their local communities by committing to their mission statement: to enable progress through entrepreneurial action.
The conference was held from April 1-3. The achievement puts St. Bonaventure’s team in the top three percent of colleges nationwide.
“We haven’t participated in the competition in a few years, so we have been out of practice for a little bit,” Jamie Zoerb, president of ENACTUS, said. “That didn’t stop the group from placing fourth in its league for the semi-finals, exceeding all expectations the group had.”
The ENACTUS group that wins the competition advances to the ENACTUS World Cup, where they compete against ENACTUS groups from all over the world. This year, Texas State University will head to Beijing, China to represent the United States.
Not all members of ENACTUS are able to attend the expo. Each school must choose teams to properly represent the group and present the project. A variety of business leaders then evaluate and judge each presentation. They are then ranked on how successfully the group used different business concepts to improve the standard of living for those in need.
The amount of professionalism and courage the group had was underestimated up until the judges announced that it was time for them to begin, according to Zoerb.
The following students presented at the conference: Zoerb and Carrie Wozniak, senior accounting majors, Devin Kane, a senior journalism and mass communication major, Mike Pingelski, a sophomore accounting major, Ryan Cooke, a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing Communications program (IMC) and Nick Garuckas, a graduate student in the Business Administration program (MBA).
Just because all 52 team members could not attend and represent St. Bonaventure ENACTUS, does not mean their role was not vital in the group’s success, according to Zoerb. All members worked together throughout the entire year to prepare for the expo.
“The presentation team only relayed the information on the projects that all members have worked so hard on this year,” Zoerb said.
The result from St. Bonaventure ENACTUS was not only a performance at the expo, but an amazing learning experience for all involved, according to Pingleski.
St. Bonaventure ENACTUS was able to practice and begin mastering the life-long skills of working successfully with a group as well as presenting in front of an audience or panel of judges. As much of a group experience the expo was, it was just as enlightening individually. According to Pingleski, it was eye opening to be the expert on the topics being presented.
“I couldn’t have asked to be with a better group of people. We all put in months of preparation for the competition and we all had each others backs throughout the entire process,” Kane said.
The team will support the local community through its entrepreneurial skills and has high hopes for the years to come, according to Zoerb.
ENACTUS is open to students from all majors. For more information, contact Zoerb at zoerbja10@bonaventure.edu or adviser Todd Palmer at tpalmer@sbu.edu
