Enactus to Compete at Nationals, April 19-21

Published Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Enactus membership, spring 2023

The SMSU Enactus team is preparing to compete at the national level in Dallas, Texas April 19-21. Enactus is a student group with an emphasis on entrepreneurship to bring about social change and community impact.

The Enactus presentation team will compete in the World Cup Qualifying Competition against other top teams from across the nation. The national presentation focuses on their ongoing projects: Mindful Meals and the Enactus Compost Operation (ECO). Mindful Meals is a project developed to address food insecurity in the Marshall Public Schools (K-12). The Enactus Compost Operation was created to address food waste and repurpose food whenever possible.

The Enactus Team will give a practice presentation on Wednesday, April 12 at 5:00 pm in Charter Hall 201. The presentation is open to the public with light refreshments provided.

The delegation traveling to nationals includes:

Valerie Messner, Presentation team, SMSU Enactus President, a senior accounting major from Hancock, Minn.
Sam Lund, Presentation team, ECO project lead, a junior political science major from Buffalo, Minn.
Maria Valentin, Presentation team, a graduate student in the MBA program from Brazil
Stephen Zimmer, Presentation team, Nationals Coordinator, a junior political science major from Marshall, Minn.
Elaina Leach, Mindful Meals Project Co-lead, a graduate student in the MBA program from Milroy, Minn.
Jayson Teagle, Technology Specialist, a sophomore culinology major from West Chicago, Ill.
Jill Remmele, Mindful Meals kitchen manager, a graduate student in the MBA program from Echo, Minn.
Gwen Welle, Mindful Meals team member, senior educational studies major from Freeport, Minn.
Grayson Bolstad, Chief Financial Officer, a junior accounting major from Mankato, Minn.
Alejandro Zagaceta, team member, a graduate student in the MBA program from Peru
Dr. George Taylor, Enactus faculty advisor, Sam Walton Fellow, and Assistant Professor of Management

"The SMSU Enactus team has experienced significant growth over the last year not only in terms of membership yet also in the breadth and scope of the projects,” said Enactus advisor, Dr. George Taylor. “Participating and competing in Nationals is the next logical step to experience the full benefit of what Enactus offers to our students. SMSU alumni members, SMSU faculty and staff, and our community are all excited. This is a big deal."

The Enactus group has seen tremendous growth, going from 11 members in 2022 to 28 active members in 2023. The group is open to all students regardless of major and provides students with opportunities to network and grow. The goal of Enactus is to develop projects that can solve a problem in the community by using the entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary mindset to create long-term sustainable solutions.

“We are able to meet so many new people,” said Stephen Zimmer. “We have students involved from Culinology, Hospitality, Education, Social Work, and Psychology, as well as connecting with community members and business leaders.”

“I feel much more prepared for the work environment after being involved in Enactus,” said Maria Valentin. “We prepare business plans, develop marketing strategies, and take advantage of many leadership opportunities. The experience has been really fun.”

To prepare for nationals, the students are putting in extra hours of work. They practice twice a day, three times a week to make their presentation ready for the competition. In addition to preparing for nationals, the Enactus team is working on the final Mindful Meals distribution of the semester this week. Volunteers are still needed: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f45a8aa28a0fdc34-operations4#/