Regent Students Take Second Place at National Enactus Competition
Regent students saw unprecedented success last semester after winning second place for their early-stage project at the US Enactus National Exposition. The event drew hundreds of students from across the country to the University of Dallas in Texas to present on their unique projects, competing to receive funding and national recognition. This year was the first time Regent made it to the finals, making it an historic moment for the Royals.
What is Enactus?
Enactus is an international organization committed to encouraging college students to find sustainable solutions for world problems. Individual student teams at universities work year round to identify and solve issues.
Every spring, Enactus hosts national expositions around the globe, giving students the opportunity to showcase their work. Regent teams have competed in the past, but never with such success.
“The whole process was so rewarding,” shared Jordan Lance, Regent’s former Enactus president and 2023 presentation leader. “We spent countless hours together – writing to script, rehearsing, filming, traveling and more – and the team remained continuously excited and driven to do their best.”
Preparing for Exposition
The time put into the project is not exaggerated. To create a nationally awarded presentation for April, the team began work in January with auditions open to all Enactus members. The exposition requires skillful public speaking and memorized scripts, so auditions are an exciting and necessary part of the process. From the selection of talented students, four were selected to be on the presentation team: Gillian Roberts, Alex McCollum, Emily Polson and Gabriel Thomas (all CAS ‘23).
The ladies came from other Regent Enactus projects, while both McCollum and Thomas had worked on the specific project being presented: Triple-E. The project’s focus? Fish. Specifically, the team addressed the severe fish deficit, poverty rate and young adult unemployment rate in rural Zambia by providing online business training courses to Zambians ages 18-25. The Zambians then get hands-on experience at local fish farms run by Regent’s Enactus partner, Maisie Global, who have boots on the ground and can oversee day-to-day operations.
The presentation team spent months designing an exhibition that effectively highlighted their work in Zambia. Lance led presentation rehearsals weekly where the team gathered to write, edit and rehearse the script. Beyond scheduled meetings, every member committed hours to running through lines, practicing Q&A, doing extra research and so much more.
High-rated Enactus exposition teams present in tandem with a creative video and music. For the first time ever, Regent did too. The team enlisted the talents of John Klaves (CAS ‘23) who worked closely with Lance to create a video with engaging footage and statistics that complemented what the speakers said. Perfect timing was essential so that the facts spoken were shown in the video at the same time.
Days after receiving the finished video, the team held a dress rehearsal, welcoming professors and students to watch their presentation and ask questions. This was particularly helpful to find weaknesses and simulate the real event, as each early stage team has exactly three minutes to set up their video, seven minutes to present their project and five minutes for Q&A with the judges. Each day of the competition was a new round followed by an awards ceremony revealing who moved on to the next round.
The Exposition
“Since we worked hard throughout the year, we were able to thoroughly enjoy presenting at the competition and see our efforts pay off. I was so proud of how our team not only encouraged each other, but built up other teams and truly enjoyed their success, too,” shared Gillian Roberts.
Emily stated, “It really struck me how much work had gone into the presentation while I was standing on stage and feeling so proud of my teammates as they delivered the lines, hit the cues and answered the questions we had practiced together.”
The team also got the opportunity to bond while exploring, visiting the Reunion Tower, Dallas Aquarium and Fort Worth. Arjola Mullaj, who ran tech for the Regent team at the exposition, shared, “The team bonded and grew like never before, and we worked together to maximize our strengths.”
US Enactus is currently undergoing major organizational changes, but students interested in this club can get involved by contacting the faculty advisor, Professor Moseley (obutenkomose@regent.edu) and club president Michael Pimpo (michpim@mail.regent.edu).
Regardless of the organizational changes, Professor Moseley shared that the team will seek every opportunity to “continue to impact people around the globe through innovative entrepreneurial projects.” Follow their Instagram @regentuniversityenactus for details and updates!
