For more than 20 years as a student organization, Valdosta State University Enactus, formerly Students in Free Enterprise, has continued to represent and reaffirm the international organization’s long-standing commitment to using entrepreneurial action as a catalyst for progress.
 
Jasmine Brooks, a 22-year-old senior marketing and management major from Riverdale and Enactus president, said that the organization plans to keep current projects running while continuing to make an impact on the Valdosta community and the world.
 
“Enactus plans to re-energize many of [the] projects we currently have,” she said. “For example, we plan to better utilize our new partnership with LODAC and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College at Ora Lee West and Hudson Dockett.”
 
In 2011, VSU’s Enactus introduced the community to the SIFE Skills Success Center, a multipurpose learning facility that addresses the social, economic and educational needs of children and families living in the Ora Lee West housing area. The center is made up of four distinct areas, including a computer lab, an art room, a math/science/reading room, and a music room. Children rotate through each area every day, working on their skills while being mentored by VSU Enactus students.
 
“We are also looking forward to finding a new small business eligible for our micro-loans,” Brooks continued. “Business Builders is our loaning program funded through Business Bites, the Rea and Lillian Steele North Campus eatery fully [run] by Enactus members. With these changes and new additions, we plan to continue Enactus’s legacy to encourage entrepreneurship and positively impacting the community.”
 
Each year, students generate community service hours with the programs they have developed and implemented to benefit and serve children and adults locally and nationally.
 
Micah Downs, a 20-year-old junior computer science major from Augusta and Enactus program director for off campus affairs, values what he has learned from working with Enactus the past two years.
 
“The ultimate goal is that we want to make a difference in our community,” he said. “We want to encourage the children and their parents to better their lives no matter what circumstances they are in. You can make a difference no matter who you are, where you are at. Putting in time and hard work drives a passion to help others. If you have the passion to make change, then change will happen.”
 
Enactus welcomes new members and volunteers.
 
Contact Jeffrie Shipley, faculty adviser for Enactus, at (229) 245-6573 or [email protected] for more information.