1,700 university programs. 70,500 participating students. 1,950,000 people impacted. This is Enactus. According to the official website it means “Entrepreneurial: igniting business innovation with integrity and passion, Action: the experience of social impact that sparks social enterprise, Us: student, academic and business leaders collaborating to create a better world.” The Scoop spoke with one Enactus member from Drury University about how this organization has impacted her life.
Statistics alone can be cold, so what does it truly mean to students? Allison Hebert says that it “is a student-run team that proposes entrepreneurial solutions to different social, economic and community issues.”
Taylor Hand, a senior on the team, offers his personal definition as well. He says that Enactus “means being able to work with some of the most amazing and creative people I’ve ever met before.”
Enactus has opened doors of opportunity for Allison Hebert. It’s given her confidence, skills, and knowledge along with a yearlong internship that led her to find a career path. During her junior year, Hebert and two other members started a project called Launch. It was designed to be a resource to help homeless individuals with criminal records find employment. Launch works alongside The Homeless Court Program, through Springfield Missouri’s Municipal Court. This program allows individuals to go through a special court system that helps them expunge old offenses and obtain resources like housing, employment, and health services.
Hebert grew so passionate with the court system that she was able to obtain an internship with the city of Springfield and the Homeless Court where she works alongside a judge as a clerk. The Homeless Court receives a lot of their support via local nonprofits. Hebert communicates with these nonprofits to make sure they are all on the same page. She also does things like keep records and collect data on the defendants and their stories.
With only a handful of weeks left as an undergraduate, Hebert says that her three years with Enactus “has been the biggest defining factor of my time at Drury.”
Upon graduation, she will attend American University School of Public Affairs to obtain her master’s degree in Justice, Law and Criminology. She plans to take all the skills that Enactus has given her and go confidently in the direction of her dreams.
