Most of the times we think about saving the world, we think it’s only possible with superhuman strength or magical abilities or other qualities only found in the realm of fiction. Comic book staples like Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and Iron Man come to mind, but this week’s Campus Celebrities don’t have (or need) superpowers, because they’re already heroes in our community. They are each part of the executive committee of a new association called ENACTUS and, by assisting one of their meetings, I was inspired by how motivated these people are to help out. I encourage you to meet the brave students that have decided to take matters into their own hands and change Río Piedras while making our school proud.
Names: Javier González (President), Adriana Santana (Vice-president) & Mario Font (Director of Statistics)
Age: 19 (amazingly, they are all the same age!)
Majors: Accounting, Marketing/Human Resource Management & Biology/Operations Management
Hometown: Hormigueros, Vega Baja & Carolina
HCUPR: Before serious talk about ENACTUS, describe yourselves in 2 words.
Adriana: As individuals?
HCUPR: Yes!
Javier: I already have my two words…
Mario & Adriana: Well, say them!
Javier: Charismatic and persevering.
Mario: Entrepeneur and motivator.
Adriana: I just don’t want to repeat words…give me a second! I am positive and decided.
HCUPR: Guys, in your own words…what is ENACTUS? I don’t want a website answer; give me your own definition.
Javier: It’s a community–
Mario: Wow, there’s a lot of things I could say…
Adriana: It’s a community of people looking to change the social situation of those that are living an undesirable quality of life.
Mario: An organization of entrepreneurs that want to make a dramatic change in society, have the desire and disposition to offer services without receiving something in exchange. In it for the pure satisfaction of giving back.
Javier: I think ENACTUS is the search for a change.
HCUPR: What motivated you to bring ENACTUS to UPRRP as a new organization?
Mario: Javier knows about that [looks at Javier].
Javier: What motivated me was the lack of an organization at our university that was directed towards helping Rio Piedras’s community. Something that was interdisciplinary and wasn’t focused on a specific area. I was motivated by a personal wish to make a social impact in our community and also by the potential I see in my colleagues each day.
HCUPR: Since you were the one that brought the idea to this campus, how did you convince others to join you?
Javier: I brought the idea, yes. I started talking to my friends about it and after that, I started contacting people I had worked with in the past, group projects and stuff. I considered them to be good for the job, started talking to them individually about ENACTUS and that was it! It wasn’t very hard for me to find the team that I have now, they all heard about ENACTUS and said yes.
HCUPR: What qualities do you see in UPR students that ENACTUS can benefit from?
Javier: [looks at Mario] Do you wanna talk about it?
Mario: How about you say it?
Adriana: Innovation. We’re looking for innovative people that aren’t only focused on doing things that have already been done. We want people with new ideas and a desire to change things.
Mario: Yeah! Since this is somewhat of a business organization, I’d say we’re looking for entrepreneurs.
HCUPR: Some organizations cater specifically to members of certain faculties. Is yours open to students from different faculties?
Adriana: Yes.
Javier: This organization is for students from all faculties and of all ages.
HCUPR: If you could represent ENACTUS with one superhero, who would it be?
Javier: I would choose Green Lantern.
Mario: Someone said it before, right?
[Note from author: Apparently a member from ENACTUS answered the same thing! Great minds think alike!]
Javier: Green Lantern has the ring, which gives him everything he needs and that helps him be a hero.
Mario: What does the ring represent?
Javier: We are the ring.
Adriana: That ring is made of all of us. The members of ENACTUS are the ring.
Javier: If ENACTUS were to be a superhero, it wouldn’t be a hero…it would be Green Lantern’s ring.
HCUPR: What kind of students are you looking for this organization?
Javier: We look for committed students.
Adriana: Yeah, definitely committed students.
Javier: Students open to new things and changes.
Adriana: Also, students open to encounter realities, that are not the ones we are familiar with, but that are vital for personal growth. These are realities most of us should know.
Javier: We just want people with the motivation to do something else than go to a classroom.
HCUPR: Starting something new is always nerve-wracking. How have you dealt with the hardships, if any?
Javier: It’s definitely hard because this is an international organization. There are some standards to be met at an international, a Puerto Rican and a campus level. The university has some standards that don’t always go hand-in-hand with the international and Puerto Rican ones. As founders, we have some goals in mind and a way we want this organization to run. I think that the way we have solved our problems, besides looking for the input of every member, is to work as a team.
Adriana: Yes, I agree.
Mario: Definitely, one of the ways is that we have distributed tasks among the members.
HCUPR: Expectations for the future? What are some of your plans?
Javier: We want ENACTUS to continue at the university when we graduate. We want this to be a prestigious and successful organization.
Adriana: We don’t want ENACTUS to be…
Mario: Another one in the bunch?
Adriana: Exactly! We want this organization to be recognized because of something that makes it stand out from the others.
Mario: Yeah, since there are more chapters in other UPR campuses, we want to be unique. We want people to be talking about our chapter, the Río Piedras chapter.
Adriana: I guess what we’re saying is that we want ENACTUS to be that association students want to be a part of.
Javier: We also want people in Rio Piedras to hear our name and know we’re part of their community. This may be ambitious, but I want ENACTUS to work, in the future, as a program linking our university directly with the community.
*Mario is on the left in the bottom-right photo
*Javier is second to left photo
*Adriana is on the right in the lefthand photo
We’re so impressed by how dedicated these students are about launching this new organization to both their college and local communities. To know more about their upcoming projects or simply reach out to them, go Like their page on Facebook!
*photos were taken from Facebook and/or provided by ENACTUS’ President: Javier González