​Westminster College Students Participate in Enactus Competition

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Westminster College students participated in the Enactus National Competition March 31 - April 2 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The competition format involved team presentations highlighting each team's annual accomplishments. The Westminster team advanced to the quarter finals.

"Enactus teams take what students have learned in the classroom and in other areas of life, and use this knowledge to create and implement educational outreach projects in their community," said Dave Smith, associate professor of accounting and faculty adviser for Enactus. "The goal of the projects is to promote financial, economic, and ethical well-being in the community.  Projects capitalize on our members' knowledge and experiences to address issues involving market economics, entrepreneurship, business ethics, environmental sustainability, and the financial skills needed to survive in today's financially demanding world."

Westminster Enactus members competing in Cincinnati include: Matthew Biamonte, Jaclyn Brown, Spencer Clark, Garrett Conn, Stephen Crowe, James DeBone, Ryan Dowdell, Erin Erdley, Alyssa Fyock, Keri Hamilton, Jennifer Lapinski, Jeff McKim, Jenna Meighen, Jeff Miller, Rebecca Mobley, Nicole Omeis, David Paladino, Corey Pelkofer, Joseph Shawley, Rebecca Tomson, Eric Trylko, and Thomas Turnbull.

"I joined Enactus my freshman year because of the credit card seminar that was a part of the Fresh Start activities," DeBone said. "I was interested in business concepts and eager to get involved. Since then, I have led two projects and gained valuable knowledge and communication skills. Overall, I am very glad I joined and would recommend it to anyone that is a potential business major or just enjoys helping people."

"Enactus has strengthened my communication skills and allowed me to grow not only as a person, but as a member of a team," Dowdell said. "We have impacted area businesses and entrepreneurs with our community service projects. The national competition was a great experience to not only present our community service projects but for our success to be recognized and confirmed by the judges.  Advancing to the quarter finals was a testament to our team's dedication."

The team learned of their advancement to the quarter finals on the evening they were supposed to return to Pennsylvania, and did not have enough funds to stay an additional night.

"As a few of us were celebrating our victory outside Tuesday night's awards ceremony ballroom, we happened to be congregating near an elderly gentleman who was wearing a lot of honorary ribbons," Smith said. "Some of us struck up a conversation with him.  He asked us how we did and we told him we won.  He congratulated us and wished us luck on Wednesday.  We told him that we had funds only to stay through Tuesday and were departing in less than an hour.  He told us that if we could change our plans, he would pay for our overnight costs.  Turns out this man was last year's retired president of Enactus!"

Smith and the students secured additional rooms, revised their return transportation arrangements, rearranged their personal schedules and were able to stay to compete in the quarter finals.  Unfortunately, they did not advance past that round.

The remainder of the current year's activities will involve completion of projects, transitioning responsibility to the new officers who will be elected later this month, and planning for next year's projects.

Contact Smith at 724-946-7161 or email for additional information.  

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