SUNY Oswego's community-minded Enactus team heads to national competition

SUNY Oswego's chapter of Enactus, a student-run School of Business group that seeks to take entrepreneurial action to shape a better world, qualified for the global organization's national competition at a regional event March 31 in Washington D.C.

The competitive, skills-building organization with a philanthropic heart presented multiple projects for the benefit of the greater Oswego community, some of which the college's Enactus team plans to present at nationals May 21 to 23 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The projects include Divert, a waste diversion program currently in the pilot phase. Enactus is working with campus organizations to build large volunteer networks to coordinate food drives and to continue to stock the student food pantry in Penfield Library.

"We also want to start transporting the excess food from the dining halls to people in the Oswego community that are in need," said marketing major Spencer Wieland, senior vice president of Enactus.

The team of SUNY Oswego presenters -- Anna Fedorenko, Jackson Haber, Eli Vanorman, Jorjienne LaBarge and Wieland -- competed at regionals and plan to do so at nationals as well. Accounting faculty member Susan Wright serves as faculty coach and adviser.

In qualifying for nationals for the first time since 2015, the team made 17-minute PowerPoint presentations for each project and shared goals and accomplishments. A five-minute question-and-answer session followed each presentation.

"We present whatever projects we believe to be our strongest," Wieland said. "Two of the projects we have presented before are Enclothe and Digitized. This year we also presented Incubator and Divert."

Depending on the rank SUNY Oswego achieves at nationals, the Enactus group has the potential to receive grant funding to contribute to current projects and those still in development, he said.

Among the colleges competing at the regionals in Washington were La Salle, Penn State, Towson and Old Dominion universities, as well as Binghamton University and Fredonia from the SUNY system.

"Enactus is a good place for students to get a professional working experience and engage in the entrepreneurial spirit," Wieland said.

For more information about Enactus at SUNY Oswego, visit oswegoenactus.com or contact Anna Fedorenko, vice president of membership, at afedoren@oswego.edu.

To learn more about the college's AACSB-accredited School of Business, visit oswego.edu/business, email business@oswego.edu or call 315-312-3168.