The BYU-Hawaii Enactus Team made second place in the semi-finals of the national competition, losing to last year’s runner-up and this year’s champion, La Sierra University.There are two major parts to Enactus: the performance of the projects and the competition. A local, national and international project were presented by the BYUH team this year.The regional rounds were held via the Web, allowing the team to operate from Hawaii and save travel money. They won the regional round, and on May 13, after weeks of rehearsing daily for countless hours, the team of seven flew out to St. Louis, Mo. for the national competition.“If you are competing and you have a deadline, it pushes you to finish and to excel,” said Les Harper, sustainability coordinator at BYUH, who traveled with the team as mentor. In St. Louis, the team started with a temple session, a Saturday of rehearsal practices and a Sunday of church, devotional and a small family home evening, recalled Jana McQueen, a business sophomore from New Zealand. Harper explained the key elements of social entrepreneurship. “It allows a problem to be solved on a long term sustainable basis.” This concept tackles the NGO syndrome which happens when organizations help in a certain area but are unable to make it sustainable and after the project helpers are gone, the region falls back into its previous state. “We are going in and teach the locals so we can come back in a year and see that they are still on track. Our greatest satisfaction would be knowing when we walk away that they carry on without us.” Daniel Magstadt, an exercise science and entrepreneurship senior from California, who operates as the BYUH Enactus Team President said, “Enactus is a vehicle to get the projects to where they need to go.”The willingness to serve others is the common thread McQueen pointed out as the motivation for the Enactus Team. She referred back to the latest General Conference and the emphasis put on helping the refuges, comparing it to the definition of social entrepreneurship. “It is a way we can keep our covenants. The Enactus Team of BYU-Hawaii does so well because the students come from all over the world with different challenges and backgrounds. When they bring their community concerns to Enactus we are able to work together and solve those challenges they see. When they return to their countries they will be leaders. It fits very well with the school’s mission.”In order to realize ideas and projects, Magstadt said students “just need to open their mouths and tell somebody the problem they want to solve. We just need to combine with the whole school.” He continued, “I would love to see Enactus carry out through the student body where people could have more the experience of getting out of the class room setting. Sometimes we get too much caught up in the books and homework and forget why we are actually going to school and gaining and education. One of the most important things about education for me is applying it to our lives. Enactus reminds us who have served a mission that you can be of service in any environment that you’re in.” Harper concluded, “I would believe that anyone who studies international cultural studies should take some entrepreneurial courses, but on the same note I believe anyone who takes business classes should take an ICS class. There is the mentality ‘I am going to get rich and I am going to do it for me.’ That can’t be. You have to be willing to support the needs of your community.”
Writer: Eric Hachenberger
