Enactus Club gets a funding boost to continue their changemaking work

Enactus Georgian is a student-led club where collective entrepreneurial spirit combines with individual passion to drive positive social, economic and environmental change.

The club recently received funding from several sources to continue its valuable work. We caught up with Joanne Campagna, Enactus faculty advisor and Co-ordinator of the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Management and Leadership) program, and Shivonne O’Brien, current Enactus Club President and a Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Management and Leadership) student, to learn more about the club.

What opportunities does Enactus provide students? Enactus gives students the opportunity to collaborate with likeminded changemakers to make a meaningful difference in the community. Students explore current local and global issues and wrestle with what they can do to shape the change they want to see in the world.

Georgian is Canada’s first and only Ashoka changemaker college.  This means, through projects, students learn skills today’s employers are looking for like empathy, collaborative teamwork, shared leadership and creative thinking.

Enactus Georgian is quite new to the college but we aspire to cultivate a world-class team like the one at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus, which was recently named runner-up to Egypt in the Enactus World Cup competition.

Joanne, tell us about your role and club from your lens.  I’m a changemaker and faculty member. My role is to encourage, coach, remove obstacles and guide students to resources. They lead – I’m here to support them (and cheer!).

What I love about Enactus is that students are exposed to a mindset of risk taking and resilience, and learn that they’re powerful catalysts for change. Ilona Dougherty, Managing Director of the Youth and Innovation project, found that youth are “wired for innovation.” Enactus capitalizes on this youthful creativity. I see the team explore societal problems, practise empathy, ideate, prototype and pilot various projects. The students experience roadblocks and navigate failed attempts. It’s wonderful to see students from multiple disciplines and diverse backgrounds collaborate and work hard to pilot viable impact-focused solutions. Through their projects, I’ve witnessed students challenging themselves, gaining confidence, and significantly expanding their horizons.

Each year, students have the opportunity to share their innovative solutions and compete on a regional and national level. In competition, students present to a live panel and respond “on the fly” using appropriate terminology to senior experts from diverse sector backgrounds. It’s quite amazing to see their skillset expand and their confidence grow. The opportunity to travel and experience national competitions allows them to connect to a wider community of changemakers. The energy of these events is immersive and palpable. Enactus team members see and believe not only that they can change the world – but that they must!   

This semester, I’m impressed by the flexibility and resilience of our students. They’re experimenting and learning how to pivot their thoughts and ideas to work remotely.

Why do you think a club like this is so important? Postsecondary education is enriched by exactly this type of experiential learning. Students expand their thinking by exploring their own values and beliefs in relation to their peers. The camaraderie, coupled with the informed guidance of human design thinking and the chance to engage with faculty and senior management, allows them to see what their community has to offer and what they can offer the community.

Shivonne, as president of the club, what are your goals this year? To increase community awareness, generate succession plans for our executive team, secure a financial sponsorship, and develop a recruitment plan that can be expanded on each year.

From a student perspective, why is this club important? As we approach the 2025 deadline for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and continue to face long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no better time than ever to ensure students have ways to contribute and create positive impact in our communities. The club provides endless possibilities and opportunities for students aspiring to be entrepreneurs and changemakers. Enactus allows them to access resources and valuable connections that can assist in turning their passion and vision for change to reality.

What are some of the club’s big achievements? The club started in 2018 and, that same year, won the Rookie of the Year Award at the national Enactus competition in Vancouver. We also received a Georgian College Students’ Association Award for our Say My Name initiative. In addition, the team created Georgian 101. Prior to the pandemic the team was working on a new project called the BIG (Building Informed Generations) Mentoring Program. However, they’ve since pivoted to their new projects Planet Heroes and Stories for Seniors. See the side bar for a description of these projects.

More recently, we were recognized with the Spirit Award at the 2020 Enactus national competition.

All Enactus teams were asked to create a 20-second video that showcased their team’s Enactus spirit. Videos were then shown during the competition. For 2020, recognition was also given to clubs based on how they pivoted their tasks and objectives during the pandemic.

Receiving this award means continued recognition by Enactus Canada for all the hard work put in by Georgian students. It’s provided increased motivation to push forward with our mission and vision to develop and create world-changing projects that provide social, economic and environmental benefits to our society. 

How can students get involved in the club? Students can jump onto a current project team, get involved with specific activities such as event planning or fundraising, lead a sub-team or area such as the competition team, or even be a general team member.

Opportunities to get involved on the executive team are available every academic year. Interested students can email:

• Club President, Shivonne O’Brien

How can people learn more about Enactus Georgian?

• Email the club for more information
• Check us out on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
• Visit our YouTube channel

Find out how you can get involved with student clubs while at Georgian.

FUNDING GRANTS

Enactus Canada Faculty Support Grant: This $1,500 grant aims to support the hard work and dedication of Enactus Canada faculty advisors and to help alleviate added stressors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant will help faculty advisors manage their teams in the 2020-21 academic year and can be used for a variety of resources, tools or external support.

Canadian Tire Youth Empowerment Project Accelerator: This grant is designed to empower Enactus teams with the resources needed to identify, create and deliver projects that empower youth to be their best. Enactus Georgian was awarded one of six $2,500 grants toward their Planet Heroes project. The focus of this project is to empower local youth while instigating the development of meaningful action items toward the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The first goal to be the focus in the online workshops will be Climate Action, Goal #13. In addition, two students from Enactus Georgian have been invited to participate in the Canadian Tire Youth Leadership Council and each will receive a $250 scholarship.

Founder’s Bursary: This bursary is funded by The John Dobson Foundation and named after the founder of Enactus Canada, Ian Aitken. Fifty-thousand dollars is awarded to outstanding students for their contributions to their Enactus club. . The bursary recognizes students who have exhibited superior leadership and gone above and beyond to develop their respective team in the current academic year. Shivonne O’Brien was one of 20 students in the 2020-21 academic year who received a $2,500 bursary.

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RECENT PROJECTS

SAY MY NAME: The goal of this project was to address social isolation, create inclusive places to study and work, and foster a sense of belonging. Team members organized campus events and created individualized buttons worn by participants. The buttons included the person’s name and were used as conversation starters. People learned how to properly pronounce each other’s name, had engaging conversations, and left the events feeling seen, validated and part of a community.  

Participants agreed they met several new people and the resulting conversations increased their sense of belonging.

GEORGIAN 101: Georgian 101 is an interactive eBook that provides new international students and first-year students new to Simcoe County with helpful information to make their transition to the region more smooth. 

BIG: The project launched in March 2020 in collaboration with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Barrie to increase confidence in youth while they’re in high school by providing them with valuable skills and information to make informed decisions about their futures.

BIG is a virtual program with modules providing guidance on topics such as financial literacy and debt management, various postsecondary opportunities and available funding sources, leadership, business and more. The project also offers participants extended mentoring in both group and individual settings.

PLANET HEROES: This new project will focus on creating youth online workshops focused on empowering meaningful action on the United Nations Sustainability Goals starting with Number 13: Climate Action.

STORIES FOR SENIORS: This project began in November 2020 with a team member creating a personalized video story for a family member in a long-term care facility. The team quickly rallied, realizing there were many crucial lessons here:

• Seniors and their family members are important and are missed
• Generations value and want to connect with one another
• Social isolation continues to be a critical issue in communities, particularly in long-term care

As of February 2021, the team has delivered six special stories to seniors in long-term care.