TRU’s Enactus club represented the university well, earning a trio of top-three finishes at the Enactus regional competition in Calgary on March 13.
At the 2015 Enactus Western Regional Exposition where TRU competed against 18 post-secondary institutions, TRU was second in the Capital One Financial Education Challenge, and third in the TD Entrepreneurial Challenge and the Scotiabank EcoLiving Green Challenge.
As a bonus, the team’s president Acacia Schmietenknop was awarded one of two Regional HSBC Women Leaders of Tomorrow awards for her dedication over the past five years to the club and to the Kamloops community.
Enactus is a worldwide club for post-secondary students who use their entrepreneurial spirit to change the world.
In Kamloops, Enactus TRU operates the following programs:
- Balance — Teaches financial education to a range of audiences like youth at risk, new Canadians, special needs youth, and seniors
- Environomics — Educates elementary-aged students about environmental issues and what steps they can take to reduce their impact on the environment
- Misson Nutrition — Raises hunger awareness in the community in addition to conducting food drives
- Enactus Consulting — Provides consulting services to businesses and not-for-profit organizations
- Microbusiness — Helps raise money for Enactus TRU while teaching its members real-world business skills
- Waste on Wheels — Diverting compostable waste from landfills by hiring less-fortunate individuals to collect compostable material from downtown businesses using a bike and cart
- On Your Own — Supporting and empowering youth transitioning out of the foster care system.
Lisa Lake and Nancy Carson serve as faculty advisors for the TRU club, which since September has put in 11,000 volunteer hours through their seven community programs thanks to its 64 members. The club estimates it has directly impacted 1,371 people.
The next big competition for the club is the 2015 Enactus Canada National Exposition May 9-17 in Toronto. There, TRU will compete against more than 60 post-secondary institutions.
