The Southwest Minnesota State University Enactus team is heading to Jamaica, but this isn’t just an ordinary and relaxing vacation. It’s an effort of the team’s to help and work with an orphanage over the winter break.
The team will be working at the Robin’s Nest Children’s Home, an orphanage near Montego Bay in Jamaica.
“The orphanage is actually run by Woodbury Lutheran Church in the Twin Cities Area. We have focused our work into three different categories: educational, agricultural, and energy,” Ben Tiensvold, SMSU Enactus president, said.
According to Tiensvold, the educational team will work to set up the computer lab for the children, and will also work to educate the workers at Robin’s Nest about operating a small business.
The agricultural team will work on building gardens and raised plant beds so that Robin’s Nest can begin to grow their own food and be self-sustaining.
The third team will work on the energy resources at Robin’s Nest.
The team is collecting donations through Dec. 1. They will be collecting laptops and computer games from anyone who will donate and they will be used to help educate young students in Jamaica.
The team is working hard to head to their national competition in the spring and have many plans going into next year.
“So far this year, our team members have put in over 1,100 hours.! We will travel to Minneapolis in March for the Enactus Regional Competition, and we will hopefully travel to Kansas City in May for Nationals. We also plan on sending about 10 members to Jamaica over spring break,” Tiensvold said.
Enactus is an international, non-profit organization made up of student, academic and business leaders committed to creating a better and more sustainable world through entrepreneurial action.
Look for more information on Enactus on the SMSU website.
Enactus Team Heading back to Jamaica and Collecting Donations for Orphanage
Kim Watkins, News Editor
November 27, 2012
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About the Contributor
Kim Watkins, Former Member
Kim is a former member of the SMSU Spur. She was on staff for 4 years - she started in the 2010 Fall Semester. She is a double major - majoring in PWC (Professional Writing & Communications) and Literature. She graduated from Benson, Minn. High School in 2010 with honors.
Her hobbies include reading, writing, walking, internet browsing and hanging out with friends and family, of course. She is also involved in the SMSU Jazz Ensemble and SMSU Concert Band and has also performed in the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra. Her other clubs include the English Club and Perceptions (SMSU's literary magazine). She is also involved in the Oyate Club.
She loves big cities (mostly Minneapolis), libraries/book stores, camping (sometimes), swimming, listening to music and much more.
Her passion is to become a book publisher/editor. Other dreams include hiking the Triple Crown and seeing all of the U.K.