The Enactus club at Florida Southern College has had a highly successful year. They ended up placing 16th in the nation at national competition in Cincinnati this year.

This is only Enactus’s second year as an organization on campus, and it already has done quite a bit.

“For a second year team to make it to semifinals is almost unheard of really, especially with a much lower budget than most of the other teams,” Enactus President Lexi Gauslow said.

However, the competition has changed a little from previous years. Before, teams would have to go through regionals and then on to nationals from there, but now it has been combined into one big competition. Essentially the first round would be considered “regionals,” and then after that the teams would move on to semifinals.

This past year Enactus has embarked on five separate projects to help better the community. The projects include the Love Local project, the Immediate and Long-Term Hunger Relief project, a mentorship program with the local high school, the Junior Achievement project, and helping the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center develop a loop system.

A loop is a copper wire that goes around an area with a little amplifier that creates a magnetic field that later taps into people’s hearing aides and basically creates a bubble or “loop.”

“They don’t hear anything outside of the loop,” Gauslow said.

The product is currently on a trial period at Publix, and Enactus is in the final stages of trying to get it to be on trial in Sam’s Club as well.

Another big project they worked on is the Love Local project, which was led by sophomore Jheryl Cabey.

Love Local is a service that delivers fresh fruits and veggies from local farmers to college students so that they have healthier food options.

“I thought it would be something that students would want to see to have fresh fruits and vegetables available to them,” Cabey said.

This project also helps the farmer community because they are expanding their market and therefore increasing sales.

The Junior Achievement project is another project that Enactus has worked on this year. The goal of this project is to help prepare students from local middle schools for a potential career in business and teach them basic business skills.

“It’s actually quite fulfilling being part of the Junior Achievement program because you’re able to teach students the basic knowledge that they need as they progress on in life,” Enactus member Christine Sniffen said.

Overall Enactus has accomplished a lot this year.

“It’s definitely been a successful year, better than we ever could’ve hoped,” Gauslow said.

Next year, however, Enactus is aiming for even higher goals. These goals include doing even better in competition as well as expanding projects to be bigger and more sustainable.

“It’s a little bit high, but we’re trying to shoot for the final four next year and then maybe eventually the World Cup,” Gauslow said.

The World Cup is when one team from nationals goes on to compete against the first-place team from every other country that participates in Enactus. This year it will be held in Beijing.

 

Photo courtesy of Lexi Gauslow