This week, I sat down with Emma Bryan about her efforts in the Enactus program. Emma and her team’s hard work have really shown this year, and the impact they are having on this campus and community is truly amazing!
Enactus is an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students, including those here at Wesleyan, to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. Enactus comes from the three main words that help guide the organization’s mission: entrepreneurial, action and us. Enactus is not exclusive to Wesleyan; these programs extend to both the national and global levels.
According to Emma, Enactus at Wesleyan is working on about seven different projects with the help of the co-chair, Greg Strader. One of the projects that Greg and Emma are spearheading is the Up to Us initiative through Enactus. Up to Us is a partnership between the Clinton Global Initiative, Net Impact and the Peter G. Peterson foundation that aims to educate and engage college students around the nation about our growing national debt, which is now over $19 trillion.
One of the reasons this initiative exists is because of the effects that this overwhelming debt can have on our generation and as millennials.
“We need to make a commitment to make a change,” Emma says.
One way to do this is by educating oneself in basic economics and on all the candidates running for president, their platforms, as well as other elected officials’ platforms and results. Emma says that it is very important for our generation to have a strong showing in the next election cycle because in the 2014 mid-term election cycle, only 19.9 percent of people ages 18-29 voted. Due to this low turnout, many of the proposed options to cut the national budget could greatly affect those in this age range, whether it is now or in the future. Some of these include further narrowing the financial aid options for students seeking higher education, and others involve changes that could eliminate social security for our generation when we retire.
The impact that Emma and the rest of the Enactus team would like to see come out of this project is one of growth; growth in the polling numbers, growth in our generation’s willingness to participate in government action, and growth in knowledge.
“We seek these goals because there is a need for it not only on our campus, but for our generation as a whole,” Emma says. “One of the most shocking things to hear when I was first becoming involved with this project was that my own friends didn’t know the difference between a subsidized and unsubsidized loan, which many students have on their school bills.” Not knowing the definition of these two basic economic terms could end up costing students more money in the future than they were expecting.
This past Monday launched the nation-wide, three week-long educational campaign with Up to Us. Be on the lookout for posters with basic economic/national debt questions and tips around campus. If your curiosity is getting to you look into these questions, Enactus will be hosting a Pie-In-the-Face event Friday, 2/12 during lunch hours where you get a chance to answer three questions about current candidates for president, the national debt, or basic economic terminology. If you get one question correct, you are allowed to pie any one team member in the face! Also, be sure to check out some of the classroom presentations from Enactus team members! They are planning to select few classrooms in the next two weeks to help educate our students about these topics.
“We have something special planned during the last week of the campaign,” Emma hinted, “so stay tuned for that!”
Many thanks to Emma and her team for all of their hard work and dedication. We can’t wait to see what you so next!