College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Grand Falls-Windsor and St. John’s Enactus teams headed to the podium five times at the Enactus Canada Atlantic Regional Exposition in Halifax, NS, on March 17.
The Grand Falls-Windsor campus sent 16 students and a faculty member to the regional exposition this year, making it the largest delegation ever sent from the campus. In the end, they were one of only three teams to place in all four challenges. The team took home second in the Capital One Financial Education Challenge, and third for the Scotiabank EcoLiving Green Challenge, the Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge, and the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge.
CNA’s St. John’s Enactus team placed second in the Scotiabank Youth Empowerment Challenge for their project called Independent You, where they developed and delivered financial education presentations to high school students in rural Newfoundland.
Fourteen teams from colleges and universities throughout Atlantic Canada presented highlights of the work their teams had accomplished throughout the year during the two-day competition.
The Grand Falls-Windsor team is led by faculty advisor Susanne Ivey, who says she is elated about how the team excelled at the exposition.
“I am so very proud of these students,” Ivey said. “I was impressed with how they conducted themselves during the question and answer period and how well they are worked together under pressure. I am very proud of their professionalism and accomplishments. I am confident that these students will continue with even more success in their future endeavours. All of their hard work paid off; I hope they continue to inspire others to have the same work ethic.”
This is the third year Ira Parmenter of Grand Falls-Windsor has competed at the regional exhibition. In his first year, the team placed in one challenge while in the second year they placed in two. Walking into the competition for the third time, he hoped to extend that streak.
“As co-president it was my ambition to place in three (challenges). That was the goal because it would have signified consistent growth over the past three years,” said Parmenter, noting the teams had five minutes to present on hundreds of hours of work. “But our team blew that expectation out of the water by placing in four of the categories, which only three of the 14 teams did. It puts Grand Falls-Windsor in the very upper echelon of Enactus groups in Atlantic Canada.”
Sharon Collins, CNA’s Interim Dean of Business and Information Technology, says the teams should be very proud of their accomplishments at the regionals, and wishes them luck in their preparation for the national competition being held in Vancouver, B.C. this May.
“Our Enactus teams were successful at multiple challenges, which focused on various aspects including financial education, youth empowerment, and entrepreneurship,” Collins said. “Our school’s business programs have helped provide the skills and knowledge for this success. Congratulations to all the Enactus students and faculty!”
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Media Contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709.643.6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca