by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Enactus team is heading to the national competition in May after earning a regional championship earlier this month.
Enactus is an international organization that brings students together through entrepreneurship. The name Enactus is a combination of three words – Entrepreneurial, Action and Us. Members aim to gain valuable entrepreneurship skills by helping the community.
“Enactus is a program that does great things for the community,” said Allen Lenoir, faculty advisor for Enactus at KCKCC. “It does so by using business principles and applications.”
The KCKCC Enactus team won its regional competition April 3. All regional winners are eligible to compete at the 2017 National Exposition completion May 21 to 23 in Kansas City, Mo. The competition includes both a written annual report and a live audiovisual presentation, through which teams report the results of the community outreach projects they have conducted. Panels of business leaders serve as judges.
Formally Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), the organization maintains the same goals of becoming more inclusive, bringing together students of various backgrounds and expertise, and developing more entrepreneurs. The mission of the Enactus team is to “serve the community, improve the quality of life and standard of living within our community and educate and illuminate our community and beyond.”
One of KCKCC’s project was working with Hillcrest Transitional Housing. Students taught adults the risks of owning and using a credit card, explained how the point system works, how to pay off high interest rates and how easy it is to get into debt. The residents were able to walk away with a clear understanding of budgeting, controlling debt and protecting themselves against identity theft.
“While we were hopeful of high ratings, we were stunned to be named Regional Champions,” said Maylen Diaz, president of Enactus. “I think what helped us stand out was that we truly helped the community. Everyone gave 110 percent, and it was worth everything we put into it.”
In another educational outreach project, students worked with local high schools to teach students how to overcome employment obstacles, how to conduct employment searches and how to succeed in job interviews. The Enactus team is also a co-sponsor of the My Shelf To Yours used book program, which accepts donations of used books and then sells them online or at the used book sale held in the fall and spring of each year. All proceeds from the sales go to help KCKCC students with their textbook and tuition expenses. Other groups sponsoring the program are the International Student Organization/Student Organization of Latinos and the KCKCC BizFest scholarship students.
Team members include Maylen Diaz, president; Mackenzi Sample, vice president; Daniel Zacapa, treasurer and Marcelyn Humphery, Sharita Hayward, Kira Ruiz, Brendan Anderson, Cori Bruce, Patrick Fagan and Robert Graham, project leaders.